A file picture of a student participating in an adventure course organised by Nettech at Majitar last year

Siliguri, June 19: Over 250 students are going through an ordeal after the venue for a 25-day summer course had to be changed from Majitar, Sikkim, to Allahabad because of the shutdown in the hills.

Nettech, a Bhubaneswar-based company providing specialised short courses in computer networking and ethical hacking, was to have held an all-India training programme on network management at the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology at Majitar from tomorrow.

“Parents from various places called us to ask how we could guarantee the security of their wards,” said Swapan Purkait, Nettech’s course coordinator. “We then decided to shift the venue to United College of Engineering & Research in Allahabad.”

Some students, who were to reach Sikkim from as far as Kochi, Udipi and Mumbai had already boarded trains and were told about the change. They were advised to de-board their trains at a bigger station and get tickets for Allahabad,” Purkait said.

The students were in their second, third or fourth years in computer science or electronics and communications from institutions like the IITs in Kharagpur, Kanpur and Mumbai.

Kallol Aguan, a second year electronics student of IIT-KGP, said: “The course had promised adventure sports, along with practical exercises on computers. Seven others from Kharagpur were also supposed to attend the course. Now we will have to get tickets for Allahabad,” he said.

“We will be losing about Rs 3,000 for the travel arrangements we made,” the student said

Nettech itself has incurred a loss of Rs 4 lakh. “We had stocked 25 days of food for 280 people at Majitar. All these will go to waste,” said Purkait.