HRD team meets protesting NIT students in Srinagar

A team from the union Human Resource Development Ministry on Wednesday met the protesting students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) here to know their grievances.

The three-member team, headed by Director Sanjeev Sharma, has been tasked to ascertain the facts that led to clashes between a section of students and police on Tuesday.

The team first met the NIT director and then the protesting non-local students who have been boycotting classes for two days.

The interactions lasted nearly three hours, a senior official said.

Around 500 non-local students of third year and some freshers have been boycotting classes while another 1,000 non-local students of other levels in the four-year degree course are attending classes, according to NIT.

Trouble erupted in NIT when the third year and some freshers took out a march shouting slogans on Tuesday. Police stopped them at the main gate, after which clashes erupted.

The students union accused the police of entering classrooms and beating up students including some disabled ones.

After the incident, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was deployed in the NIT campus.

Two groups of students had clashed with each other on March 31 after the West Indies defeated India in the T20 cricket World Cup championship.