KADAPA: Tension prevailed at IIIT Idupulapaya in Vempalle mandal of the district on Sunday evening when girl students studying P1 and P2 courses staged a dharna on the new campus to protest against the order directing them to move to the old campus in RK Valley.
IIIT Idupulapaya Director K Sandhya Rani issued an order on Saturday midnight, which ‘forced’ students to stay outside their rooms in the old campus due to lack of proper facilities. The entire old campus was unkempt. Some students even complained of seeing snakes slithering around.
The girls complained to their parents, who tried to contact the IIIT Director, but in vain. She reportedly rejected the plea of the students, which irked them and their parents.
On Sunday, they staged the protest stating that they would not go the old campus till the improvement of basic amenities. The entire campus reverberated with their slogans against the IIIT management demanding justice.
Even if the IIIT Director reportedly warned the protesting students, they did not relent. As the students were rigid on their stance, she reportedly threatened to send them back to their hometowns with the help of police. When the Director expressed her ire at a student, who questioned her, other girls and their parents present at the place, confronted the former, which led to a heated argument. Even if police tried to pacify the protesting girls, they were not convinced.
About 2,000 students of P1 and P2 courses were asked to move to the old campus to accommodate 700 E1 course batch in the new campus.
When Kadapa District Collector V Vijay Rama Raju called up the IIIT Director and sought an explanation, she said P1 and P2 students need to be shifted to the old campus to accommodate the E1 batch. She said the conditions at the old campus deteriorated due to lack of proper upkeep during the Covid pandemic and it would be spruced up within a week.