The administrative block of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute reopened on Monday, but no work was conducted on the campus. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Snehal Nair, a first-year student of direction at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), is running out of patience. And with some reason.

?I do not want to spend my youth studying films at SRFTI. I want to complete my course on time, go out and make films. That is why I left my job (in Ahmedabad) and came to Calcutta. Why does somebody not make a conscious effort to solve the problem?? he demands.

That is the common crib of the 150-odd students at SRFTI, who have been on an indefinite strike since August 26 protesting various academic and financial irregularities.

Monday morning, however, brought the first sign of a breakthrough, with the arrival of SRFTI chairperson Basu Chatterjee on campus.

The outcome: the administrative building was reopened after 10 days but till late evening, none of the administrative staff members had taken their seats.

The management at the EM Bypass institute, which went into a huddle after the chairman left the premises, refused comment on the day?s proceedings. They were, however, hopeful of an amicable solution ?within a day or two?.

SRFTI director Abhay Srivastava told Metro: ?The students informed us about their problems. We also told the chairperson about our limitations. He will be visiting the institute on Tuesday, too. We hope to restore normalcy very soon.?

The students were far less hopeful. ?After a stalemate of 10 days, we were pinning our hopes on this meeting. We had a good one-hour session with the chairman. We told him about our grievances and what is keeping us from calling off the strike,? said Raka Dutta, third year, direction.

After the meeting, the administrative block was opened for work to resume. ?Our main problem, as we told chairman Chatterjee, is that we have not even got a syllabus. We are not being given the right budgets for our projects ? some of them being delayed for months just for the want of a few thousand rupees. The equipment is not sufficient in number for so many students,? complained Dhruba Ghosh from the outgoing direction batch.

The students have two immediate demands ? a meeting of the academic council and also a meeting of the governing council, where all students would be present. This, they feel, is a must as there is complete lack of coordination among the various departments of the institute.