Indefinite hunger strike by IIIT, Kalyani students

The indefinite hunger strike by a section of students of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Kalyani entered the fifth day on Thursday.

The students are on indefinite hunger strike since Sunday demanding shifting of their institute to a campus of a national level technical institute.

The IIIT Kalyani located in Nadia district was established four years back on a PPP model. The institute is now functioning from the Webel IT Park here as it does not have a campus of its own.

The students first started a strike about 10-days back and from Sunday they have started the indefinite hunger strike.

Seven students including a girl fell ill during the hunger strike and were admitted to Kalyani JNM Hospital. The students admitted to hospital have been released from hospital, officials said.

Local MP Tapas Mondal has said that "the state government had given 50 acres of land for construction of IIIT campus long ago. It is the responsibility of Central government to arrange for construction of the campus. The campus should have been constructed long ago. However, the demands of the students are logical."
A student said, "Whenever we told the authorities about our demands, they assured us to look into it. We do not believe their assurances anymore. That is why we are demanding the shifting of the campus."