In Eye of storm

Itanagar, Sept. 25: Over 500 students of the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) today began an indefinite protest demanding the removal of institute registrar Ashok Singh.

The students have accused him of being involved in a number of irregularities, including flouting recruitment norms. The general secretary of the institute’s students’ union, T.A. Tara, said despite repeated pleas for the fulfilment of their demands, the authorities had taken no steps.

The 27 demands were submitted to the director in-charge of Nerist, M. Hussain, repeatedly over the past month. The “immediate removal” of the registrar topped their list of demands for his “arbitrary and tyrannical attitude” towards the students.

“We have launched an indefinite agitation today, beginning with boycott of classes in protest against the failure of the authorities in removing the registrar.

“Besides using the institute as his fiefdom, he often incited security forces to beat up students on some pretext or the other. We have been demanding the fulfilment of our other demands like taking immediate measures to improve the accommodation and healthcare facilities, living standards of hostels, a multipurpose auditorium on the campus, completion of the main gate of the institute and recruitment of skilled faculty,” Tara said.

The association flayed the “lackadaisical” attitude of the authorities in providing the basic requirements of the students residing in hostels, the construction of a bridge to facilitate the movement of the students, construction of a boundary wall, transportation facilities for handicapped students, restructuring of registration fees and provision of extra coaching classes for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste students.

The director in-charge said a committee would be formed to look into the demands of the students. The former director, Kalyan Kumar, had to be removed for his alleged involvement in a case of plagiarism in January this year.

Many organisations, civil society, students’ unions, including the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU), Arunachal Citizens’ Rights (ACR) and Global Human Rights Organisation (GHRO) took to the streets demanding Kumar’s resignation last year.