Gangtok: Twelve students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Sikkim on Wednesday began an indefinite hunger strike in the academic block of the temporary campus at Rabongla in support of their demand for a permanent campus.

The 800-odd students of the eight-year-old institute have been skipping classes since end-July to pressurise the Sikkim government and the Centre to identify land for the permanent campus and begin construction at the earliest.

Last week, the Union human resources development minister, Prakash Javadekar, had assured a high-level Sikkim delegation led by state human resources development minister R.B. Subba that an empowered committee of his ministry would be sent to Sikkim to identify suitable land for the campus and provide construction funds expeditiously.

The students were briefed on the Delhi meeting by NIT Sikkim director Mahesh Govil, who was also part of the delegation, and were told to withdraw their protest and resume classes.

G. P. Upadhyaha, the principal secretary of the state HRD, had also appealed to the students to attend classes and sought few months' time to find an acceptable solution.

The students, however, said they had no choice other than to intensify the agitation by going in for a hunger strike since no officials from either the state government or the Centre had bothered to inform them about the developments with regard to the permanent campus.

"We came to know that there was a high-level meeting with the union human resources minister in Delhi, but neither any state official nor a representative of the Centre has come to meet us and brief us on the talks. We are not unreasonable people, if someone comes to us and explain we will listen," said a student.

The students had earlier demanded a written assurance from both the state government and the Centre on the permanent campus to end their protests.

"We are not insisting on a written assurance, but the officials must come and meet us and explain what is being done to meet our demand. They must give us some assurance either in writing or verbally," said the student.

The 12 students on hunger strike have been taking liquid diet like juice and glucose, but no solid food.

"Today being the first day, we gave them liquid diet to them. We will review the nature of our protest every day," said the student.

The NIT, which was set up by an Act of Parliament in 2007, started functioning from a temporary campus at Rabongla, which is at an altitude of about 7,000ft and 120km from Gangtok, in 2010 with 50 students. The current student strength is about 800.