Manipur Institute of Technology students at the local community hall on Sunday night. File picture

Imphal, Sept. 24: Manipur University has indefinitely suspended classes at the Manipur Institute of Technology (MIT) which has been rocked by students’ agitation for the last 10 days.

A source in the university said classes of the institute were suspended indefinitely from today till an amicable solution was reached. The institute is affiliated to the university.

There has not been any class at the institute since September 15 after its more than 400 students staged daily relay hunger strike on the institute’s campus at Takyelpat in Imphal West.

The students have been demanding removal of the institute’s principal in-charge, Th. Kulachandra, alleging financial mismanagement and administrative failure.

More than 70 students of the institute’s hostels continue to take shelter at a nearby community hall located at Yengkhomg Leirak, barely 1km from the institute for the second day today.

They fled hostels and took shelter at the community hall after police mounted a crackdown on students holding a sit-in on Sunday evening on the institute’s campus.

Two local organisations are taking care of the students’ requirements, including food.

Authorities of the university today tried to take the students from the community hall to the university for their stay till the problem is resolved. The students, however, refused to leave the community hall.

The institute’s governing body, headed by vice-chancellor of Manipur University H.N.K. Sharma, today discussed the development at the MIT besides other issues of the university. The meeting reportedly took a serious note of the developments at the institute.

University sources said the governing body would raise the matter before the executive council, the university’s highest decision-making body, for a final decision on the students’ demand for removal of the principal in-charge.

The sources said the vice-chancellor yesterday announced sanctioning of Rs 20 lakh for buying books for the institute. The move follows the students’ agitation.

A delegation of parents of the institute’s students today met deputy chief minister Gaikhangam to discuss ways and means to resolve the stalemate. Gaikhangam assured the parents that the matter would be resolved soon.

Chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh is on a foreign trip.

The Manipur University Teachers’ Association has condemned the crackdown on students.