'Govt’s deserted us', says protesting students at IIIT Basara

ADILABAD: The students of IIIT Basara in the Nirmal district are up in arms against the State government for leaving their institution orphaned with no proper infrastructure or ambience for them to study. The IIIT Basara has been at the receiving end for quite some time now. It has no regular vice-chancellor and the ad-hoc administration neither has the funds nor the powers to take up any work that would ameliorate the conditions at the campus. 

The students who began protesting the apathetic attitude of the State government on Tuesday continued their agitation for the second day on the institution’s campus on Wednesday,  insisting that the government should accept all their 12 demands. 

While most of the students boycotted classes and staged their protest in front of the administrative office, some tried to continue their agitation outside the campus, but the police stepped in and confined them to the campus. District Collector Mushraff Ali Faruqi, Assistant Superintendent of Police Kiran Khare and IIIT Basara AO Rajeshwar Rao conferred with the student union leaders for about two hours each in the morning and the evening, assuring them that they would bring their demands to the notice of the IIIT Basara in-charge vice-chancellor and the government.

For the starters, the officials promised to release Rs 10 to Rs 20 lakh for library development and provision of laptops but the students remained unimpressed. They argued that it was a pittance considering the kind of facelift the library needed. They said the money would not be sufficient to buy the necessary equipment for the laboratories.

The students insisted that they wanted a full-fledged VC for the institution so that problems at the campus level could be sorted out immediately. The students also made no bones about their intention to continue their agitation till their demands are conceded. They decried the threat of action against them if they did not mend their ways and call off the protest. The students cried foul recently when a dead frog appeared in their food. They say that they find insects in their food almost every day and no one bothers to listen to their plight.

Their problems are minor: Sabitha
MAUD Minister K T Rama Rao tweeted that the students’ problems would be taken to the notice of the Chief Minister. Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy said that their problems were very minor in nature and would be addressed immediately. 

Soyam seeks Guv’s intervention
Adilabad BJP MP Soyam Bapu Rao submitted a memorandum to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan in Hyderabad, seeking her intervention for the resolution of problems at IIIT Basara