The strike of the students of NIT Uttarakhand now temporarily running in the building of the Polytechnic at Srinagar in Pauri district has entered its fifth day on Thursday. The students who have been staging the sit-in in the administrative block are demanding being provided with better facilities and a permanent NIT campus somewhere in the plain area.
Alarmed over the sit-in dragging for the past three days, a team of police and administration had reached NIT campus on Wednesday and appealed to the students to end their stir while informing them that their demands had been conveyed to the Uttarakhand Government for action. However, the students had turned it down, saying that they would continue with the stir till the State Government acted positively.
Meanwhile, the stir of Pragatsheel Jan Manch based in Srinagar for housing the permanent NIT campus at Sumari- a village where the villagers have given the required land for housing the institute- has been going on for close to two and half months. With business fraternity having joined hands with the agitating outfit, they would stage a joint demonstration in support of the demand on August 28 during which the market would be closed.
Notably, with the news of the agitating students contemplating to block the national highway or to stage a candle march having reached the police and the administration, SDM Maya Dutt Joshi- accompanied by the Tehsildar and SHO police station Srinagar — had reached the NIT premises on Wednesday and urged them to get back to their studies without wasting time on stir with the State Government considering their demands. After the students had rejected the appeal, police are said have asked the NIT administration to send a list of the students who are staging stir while skipping classes.
Besides, police are learnt to have sought video recording of the stir by way of preparing to take a legal action. Meanwhile, the NIT administration has sent notice to the absentee students to return to their classes immediately.