Indore: IIT students march to campus to protest substandard transport facility

Indore: In a bizarre protest, students of Indian Institute of Technology Indore on Tuesday gave a miss to institute buses and staged a march from their hostels in Silver Springs towards the academic campus over the problems of transportation they have been facing for quite some time.

In the morning, the students gathered outside Silver Springs and walked towards their institute campus, located about 35 km away from their residential premises. Institute bus drivers and conductors requested them to board vehicles but they refused. On learning about the incident, some college staffers approached protesting students and tried in vain to pacify them.

The students told reporters that they were protesting against non-availability of transportation facility. “We are not being provided with adequate number of buses. Each bus carries students almost the double of its capacity,” the students claimed. They also stated that the institute has come up with new bus schedule which is difficult to adhere to.

On reaching the institute, the students staged a demonstration forcing authorities to immediately hold talks with them and work out a solution. “We have found solutions to all the problems of the students. So there is no issue now,” claimed IIM Indore media in charge Nirmala Menon. Menon stated that the students had staged protest as they had some problems with new schedule of the buses. “We heard their grievances and found solutions for them,” Menon said.

She also stated that the transportation problem occurred due to sale of old buses. “The number of buses with the institute reduced as we sold our old buses,” she said. IIT Indore campus is located at Simrol. As its residential campus is not fully constructed, many students have to reside in a rented accommodation at Silver Spring and shuttle between Simrol and Indore.