The authorities of IIT Kharagpur have reopened the Prembazar gate for two-wheelers, which will help parents to ferry their children to the schools inside the campus.

There are four schools on the campus, and the gate will remain open during the school hours only, said IIT Kharagpur director.

The gate had been blocked during the tenure of former director V.K. Tewari, who decided to erect a brick wall to permanently block the entire gate, citing security reasons.

This triggered protests from guardians who had to make several detours to reach the schools for dropping off and picking up their children.

New IIT full-term director Suman Chakraborty, appointed in June, said they reopened the gate for the motorised two-wheelers during the Durga Puja break and will continue with this in the interest of the school students.

A side gate was opened in May by the institute’s interim director, Amit Patra, to allow pedestrian movement and that of bicycles.

“The gate will remain open during the school hours only for movement of two-wheelers. The timing will be adjusted according to the school hours...,” said Chakraborty.

The director said they are in favour of a graded approach to reopening the gate.

If the step that has been implemented works well, then they will think about reopening the gate for the four-wheelers as well, Chakraborty said.

The four schools located inside the campus are Kendriya Vidyalaya Kharagpur, DAV Model School, St Agnes Branch School and Hijli High School.

The first three schools start at 7.45am and end at 12:45pm.

Hijli High School, which is affiliated to the state board, commences at 10.30am and continues till 4pm.

“The security personnel have been told to reopen the gate accordingly to facilitate the movement of the school students. We had kept the gates open during Durga Puja says so the residents of the neighbourhood could visit the pandals that came up on the campus. If everything goes according to plan, the gate will be opened for cars also,” director Chakraborty told Metro.

The teachers who are members of the IIT Kharagpur Teachers’ Association in September last year wrote to Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, protesting several decisions of the former director, which included blocking the Prembazar gate.