(Top): Guards of GD Security Company, the new agency at Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, join duty on the campus on Wednesday. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha (Above): A Besu student breaks his hunger strike with a glass of water from former vice-chancellor Sparshamani Chatterjee on Wednesday. Picture by Gopal Senapati

Citu has forced the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) authorities to blink, but the union feels that they have not blinked hard enough.

The eight-day deadlock at the film school was resolved on Wednesday with GD Security Company, the new security agency on the campus, agreeing to absorb the 28 security personnel the SRFTI had ordered to leave the premises.

As GD Security employees, they will enjoy the same benefits as they do now, but will be posted elsewhere.

The film school authorities issued a notice on Wednesday, asking the new agency to provide security services from Thursday. The 28 employees of Star Security and Detective Agency, the previous agency, have been asked to leave the campus.

The notice follows Tuesday’s meeting in Delhi, in which information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, along with institute chairman Buddhadeb Dasgupta and director Swapan Mullick, decided that the old security agency would have to go.

“The old security personnel will be absorbed by GD Security and will be given placement on humanitarian grounds with the same benefits,” said Mullick.

Citu, which has been backing the 28 security personnel, is not satisfied with the arrangement. Samarendra Roy, who looks after the union’s unit in the institute, said: “We feel injustice has been done to the existing security staff. We will soon discuss the matter internally so that they are not deprived in any way.”

During the day, eight guards of GS Security arrived on the campus with the old team on duty. The authorities are planning to resume classes on April 15.

Trouble had erupted on the campus after the contracts of the 28 security personnel were terminated with effect from April 1. The workers refused to leave and the institute was closed on April 3.

“The 28 guards are backed by Citu and have been hampering peace in the institute. They are even resorting to vandalism. They are goading other employees to stop work and demand provident fund from the institute,” said Mullick.

“We are tired of the 28 security people, who are spoiling the atmosphere on the campus,” said a final-year student of the film school.