Hyderabad: Governor of Telangana Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Sunday met with students and professors of IIIT Basara at the campus in Nirmal district.
Students of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge and Technologies (RGUKT), popularly known as IIIT Basara, have been complaining about many problems on the campus, including the poor quality of food, unhygienic washrooms and rude security staff.
“The children’s demands are very simple, and they have every right to make their demands,” said the Governor after meeting with the students, eating a meal with them, and touring the campus.
“The children are passionate, and they want to progress in life. During my interaction with them, they told me that they have not been given laptops since 2014. They want sports facilities to be bettered. Many students are malnourished as they come from economically-compromised families.”
Governor Tamilisai said that the students’ basic demands were the development of the mess. “They want good food and good washrooms, and they are unable to move freely on campus because of security staff that behaves rudely. Professors are also complaining about a lot of vacancies.”
She said that she acknowledged the problems of the students and will immediately make sure that changes will be made. “I have assured the children and provided moral support. Their problems will be solved one by one from today. I will put pressure on the concerned authorities so the problems are solved in a time-bound manner,” said the governor.
“IIIT Basara was constructed here because Gnyana Saraswati, the goddess of education, is here. I want the students to be happy and have basic facilities,” she said.
What is happening in IIIT Basara?
The campus has seen a series of incidents of food poisoning. In the latest incident, nearly 100 students fell ill on August 3. Ten of them were admitted to hospitals while others were treated on campus. They had developed symptoms of food poisoning.
Earlier on July 15, over 100 students had fallen ill with complaints of vomiting and loose motion. Some of them even fell unconscious.
This incident came less than a month after students staged a week-long protest demanding better quality food, drinking water and other amenities.
The students had complained that the food being served in the hostel mess was of poor quality. They alleged that on several occasions, small insects and frogs were found in the hostel food.
They had called off their week-long protest on June 21 after Education Minister Indra Reddy visited the institute and gave an assurance that their problems will be solved in a phased manner.
(With IANS inputs)
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