Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, February 22, 2007
Eight days into the teachers-students protest at Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur over its upgradation to INI status, the state chief minister has finally intervened to defuse the situation. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya wrote a letter to Prime Minster Manmohan Singh on Thursday urging him to upgrade the institute to INI status.
Last year, the Anand Krishna Committee had recommended the ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to upgrade Besu and name it as ‘Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology’ (IIEST) but till date there has been no response from the state. In his letter Bhattacharya urged the PM to upgrade BESU into an INI as a sesquicentenary celebration gift.
“The university is celebrating its 150th year and the teachers and students of BESU will feel greatly encouraged if the approval of the government of India in this regard is communicated and required funds are released while the celebration is on,” Bhattacharya wrote in his letter to PM.
The vice chancellor of the university, N. R. Banerjea has also written a letter to HRD minister Arjun Singh on Thursday, urging him to inform the university about the latest status of the proposal of upgradation. The teachers under the banner of Bengal Engineering and Science University Teachers Association (BESUTA) has been agitating since February 14, and students have joined in and started relay hungerstrikes along with the teachers. Classes have mostly remained closed for the past two days. In his letter to Singh, Banerjea wrote about his concern regarding the unrest and urged the minister to make a quick decision.
The teachers on Friday met higher education minster Sudarsan Roychoudhuri in this regard. The Minister had already intimated the Centre about the state agreeing to the INI status proposal through his letters dated 3-11-2006, 15-11-2006 and 16-2-2007 but has received no reply as yet. The minister today urged the teachers to withdraw their hungerstrike and assured that the state would do its best for the upgradation of Besu.
Teachers however felt that the riders given by the state urging a ‘participatory mode of governance’ and reserving 70 per cent of Besu’s seats for the state students may have spoilt their chance. However, teachers today decided no to go on an indefinite hungerstrike because of the CM’s letter addressing their concern. Instead they would be going ahead with indefinite relay hungerstrike.
Students carried on their relay hungerstrike and threatened to go on indefinite hungerstrike from February 26 if the Centre did not take any action. Some students also went to the Kolkata Book Fair on Friday to build up public opinion in this regard by talking to people and distributing leaflets.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
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