'Lights, camera, construction!' say students protesting poor infrastructure at film institute in Arunachal Pradesh
NEW DELHI: Protesting against the crude infrastructure and lack of basic amenities, students of the inaugural batch of the Film and Television Institute (FTI) in Arunachal Pradesh have been boycotting classes and any kind of academic activity since May 15.
Presently attached to the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SFRTI) in Kolkata, which falls under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, it is set to become India’s third FTI in the future. The Institute is located in Jollang-Rakap, 24 kms away from the capital Itanagar.
This is the second major protest this month.
“We decided to halt all academic activity since May 15. This is to demand urgent action to restore dignity, safety and basic infrastructure,” they said in a joint statement.
TNIE interacted with the protesting students, who were angered by the administration's inaction. They have paid Rs 1,20,000 for the first semester. A few have even resigned from jobs to pursue their passion for films.
A total of 45 students are pursuing these 2-year Diploma courses - Screen Acting, Documentary Cinema and Screen Writing here. Five students belong to Arunachal Pradesh while the rest are from Delhi, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Hyderabad and Maharashtra.
Students requested anonymity fearing punitive action from the Institute in future for voicing out. Meant to begin their academic year in August 2024, the students received mails in February this year asking them to join on March 6.
A student said, “The biggest issue is we do not have access to clean drinking water as the water we consume is muddied. Students frequently fall ill. Just last week, an emergency vehicle here had to rush one of the students to a hospital in Itanagar, 23 kms away. The institute arranged water cans but they would get exhausted and we would again have to boil the muddy water and drink.”
A woman student said the frequent power cuts upset her the most. “A week ago, we did not have power supply throughout nights. The phones could not be charged too and there are network issues. Our parents get really worried. A few girl students abandoned the course on safety grounds as security personnel cannot be spotted after 3 am and outside vehicles enter the campus,” she said.
Classes are held in unfinished buildings, said another student. “A library with a makeshift class room is used. This is a visual medium and we need proper screening and editing rooms, not mere laptops. The faculty is good though. The name FTI is regarded highly and the one in Pune is world class. We feel cheated trusting the brand.”
There are no proper roads or footpaths on the hilly terrain to take us inside, said another student. “We have not even been provided student ID cards and will be completing three months here,” he said.
TNIE spoke to those in-charge of managing the FTI.
“We agree there are problems and are doing our best to redress it. Uninterrupted power is now being ensured through DG sets during outages. We have requested the State electricity department to install a dedicated feeder line here,” he said.
Another official said, “The construction work is being done by the Central Public Works Department and there have been delays from their side due to local problems. A total of 10 out of 21 buildings have been handed over so far and the rest would be done in phases.”
Around 30 security personnel are being provided round-the-clock, he claimed. The process of finalising the Institute’s official name and logo is under way and ID cards will be issued soon, the official added.
Asked why students were taken on board without facilities in place, another official said, “The students had already got the admission. We did not want one academic year to go waste for them and did it for their sake only.”