HYDERABAD / NIRMAL: Students of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) Basara, on Saturday sent an SOS through the media, saying that they feared that the government would use force to break up their five-day long protest. The students cited the claim of Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy that they had agreed to call off their protest demanding basic infrastructure, amenities and faculty at the institution.
Denying that they had given any assurance of this sort, the Students Governing Council (SGC) of RGUKT said that on the contrary, the authorities have threatened them with dire consequences, including rustication and filing of police cases, if they do not call off their protest.
Earlier in the day, Indrakaran Reddy, along with Mudhole MLA Vittal Reddy, Telangana State Council for Higher Education Vice-Chairman Venkata Ramana, Nirmal district Collector Musharraf Ali Faruqui and other district officials held extended talks with the students. While the final year engineering students took part in the deliberations, the remaining students continued their protest, braving the rain.
Talks successful, says Minister
Soon after the talks ended, the Minister spoke to the media and declared that the deliberations were successful and students will start attending classes from Monday. He said that the government will hire faculty and infrastructure.
He said that the students had sought an assurance from IT Minister KT Rama Rao, even if it was in the form of a tweet. “KTR will soon tweet on the issue,” Indrakaran Reddy said. However, the students rejected the Minister’s version and released a video in which a police officer is seen snatching away the mike when a student representative demands appointment of a regular Vice-Chancellor.
SP deputed decoys to turn protest violent: SGC
In a statement, the SGC representatives stated that talks made no headway. “The authorities who came for deliberations threatened that they would stop food, water and electricity to the campus and deploy over 1,000 police to throw out the agitating students,” the statement said. SGC president Madesh said, “Nirmal SP has managed to send in some outsiders to join our protest with the aim of turning our peaceful protest into a violent one by pelting stones. However, we have identified these outsiders as they don’t have identity cards.”
The students maintained that until and unless they receive a written guarantee from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao or the IT Minister with a precise time frame to fulfil their demands, they would continue their protest.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy, in a statement from Hyderabad, said that the government was taking the issue seriously and was committed to resolving the grievances of the students. She appealed to them to call off their protest.