IIT Basra got a raw deal since formation of Telangana

Hyderabad: Lack of freedom to take decisions and eternally waiting for decisions from the above are the two factors hitting the Telangana State Education Department (TSED) and the universities hard.

The unfortunate incident of 100 students of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge and Technologies (RGUKT) falling sick due to food poison is just one among several other cases in which the officials have to wake up from their slumber and take eleventh-hour measures to set things right. Speaking to The Hans India, a faculty member of the RGUKT said, "The situation and the problems faced by both students and administration at the RGUKT is very much in the notice of the authorities concerned in the Education department."

Both the students and faculty at the institute feel that the IIT, Basara is given raw deals and treated with a step-motherly attitude by the State government. "So unique is RGUKT that unlike other universities it has always been run without a full-time vice-chancellor after the formation of Telangana State," he added.

When asked, a former retired official of the the Education Department said, "Whenever the issue of appointing a VC had come up the political bosses ignored it. That's how for long from the time of the formation of the State it was under the ad hoc vice chancellorship of secretary of the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE)."

Adding further he said, "Literally the RGUKT is left to the mercy of the senior babus in the Educational department, local people's representatives and Minister of Education. Further, even the top official in the Education department cannot act independently and have to wait to get decisions from the top communicated. And, those on the top who have to take decisions are taking their sweat time that left the RGUKT to get a raw deal since 2014," the official pointed out.

It was against this backdrop that students launched a protest last month in June. Initially, the protest was taken lightly. Even the students' demand for improving the quality of food and a few other issues were mocked being silly.

However, now the State government has to go into huddle after the food poisoning issue left 100 students needing medical care. State Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy directed the Telangana State Council of Higher Education, Vice-Chairman, Prof Venkata Raman to rush to Nirmal to make coordinated efforts for the safety of the students. The contractor of the RGUKT was slapped with the notices as to why action should not be taken. The director of the institute had released a list of elaborate measures to prevent the re-occurrence of such incidents.

C Vinitha, (name changed), a second-year mechanical engineering student said, "It is not even a month that the State Education Minister asked to withdraw our agitation assuring to solve the problems in a phased manner. Now, the students feel that they have been taken for a ride only to get their protest withdrawn." The question now the students are asking can they trust the assurances given by the State Education Minister?

The reason, for the incident of food poisoning, shows how the assurances of the Education minister, district Collector and local people representatives of the ruling party showed no impact even on the contractor who runs the campus mess to improve the food quality. Once all those who underwent medical care returned, "we will meet and chalk out our course of action," said C Narayana Reddy, a student from the Chemical Engineering department. Also, another question being asked is, "What is stopping the State government to appoint a full-time vice-chancellor like other universities?"