Following talks with Telangana Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy with representatives from protesting students at IIIT Basar on Monday, June 20, the student protest, which lasted for seven days, has been called off. Students of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge and Technologies (RGUKT), popularly known as IIIT Basar, had been protesting over the poor quality of food and other basic amenities and also sought the appointment of a regular Vice-Chancellor. Braving rains, students of RGUKT had continued a sit-in at the main gate of the building till Monday night, holding placards and raising slogans to highlight their 12 demands.
Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy subsequently held talks with the 20-member Students' Governing Council. The talks continued past midnight. After the talks, the students said they were satisfied with the assurance of the minister to address their problems in the order of priority. The students decided to call off the protest and resume attending classes. The District Collector has reportedly said Rs 5.6 crore will be released immediately to the institution. The Minister met students days after she had termed the demands of the students as "silly", evoking strong protest from them.
Earlier on Sunday, talks held by District Collector Musharraf Ali Farooqi and RGUKT Director Satish Kumar with the students had failed to resolve the deadlock. The students insisted that a statement be issued from the Chief Minister's office, or Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy or Information Technology Minister KT Rama Rao give a written assurance to solve their problems. Though the Collector and Director assured the students that their problems would be solved, the students demanded that this assurance should come either from the CMO or the ministers. On June 18, Sabitha Indra Reddy requested the students to withdraw their protest, saying their demands would be met by the government.
Demands to be met to call-off this peaceful protest.#VisitRGUKT @TelanganaCMO pic.twitter.com/mkWhMzyKXS
— SGC RGUKT BASAR (@sgc_rguktb) June 19, 2022
Students of the Telangana University in Nizamabad also staged a protest to express solidarity with IIIT Basar students. They slammed the state government for neglecting the state-run universities while opening the doors for private universities. State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay also hit out at the state government for doing nothing to address the demands of the students even after six days. In an open letter to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Sanjay said the Chief Minister had time to form a political party but no time to discuss and solve the problems of students.
With IANS inputs