The IIT Kharagpur authorities have reopened a pedestrian passage adjoining its Prembazar gate that connects the campus with the neighbourhood.
The acting director, Amit Patra, reopened a portion of the gate after the teachers protested former director V.K Tewari’s decision to erect a brick wall to permanently block the entire gate, citing security reasons.
“The side gate has been reopened to facilitate pedestrian movement,” said Amit Patra, the officiating director of IIT Kharagpur.
Asked about the prospect of reopening the entire gate as demanded by the IIT Kharagpur teachers’ association, he said: “So far, it has been decided that only the pedestrian gate will be reopened”.
Last year, the institute’s board of governors passed a resolution tabled by the then director, V.K. Tewari, to build a brick wall to block the gate permanently, disregarding the teacher’s objections.
This IIT gate leads to neighbouring Prembazar and the Hijli Co-operative Society.
In a letter to the Union education ministry on September 20 last year, the IIT Kharagpur Teachers’ Association had complained that former director Tewari’s decision to keep the gate closed “vitiated the harmony between the campus and the neighbouring community”.
The teachers had iterated their opposition in their first meeting with the IIT’s interim director in early January.
“The former director first cited Covid as a reason to close the gate. Then, even after COVID-19 ended, he did not open the gate, citing security reasons. By reopening the side gate, we have been able to force the authorities to scrap their plan to permanently block the gate,” said a member of the association.