IIT Kharagpur Students send Petition to Director regarding Fee Hike

Following a sudden hike in the registration fees at IIT Kharagpur, more than 200 students of the institute have decided to protest against this move. A petition signed by 1200 students was sent to the Director’s office on December 14, 2016, asking the authorities to nullify the fee hike.

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The students stated that they have been kept in the dark and the fee hike was not discussed with them. The notification was released suddenly, said Sayan Dasgupta. As soon as the students received the notification, they started protesting in front of the Director’s office. Eight of these students started a hunger strike on Monday, December 19, 2016.

Authorities at the institute have hiked the registration fee by Rs.8000. Earlier, the fee was Rs.29000 that has now been hiked to Rs.37000. It will be applicable from the semester that starts from January.

The authorities stated that the protest is undemocratic. The students started a protest rally from Technology Students Gymkhana, IIT Kharagpur and went in front of the Director's office. The protest continued in front of the office due to which the Director and the Registrar were forced to stay inside the office for the entire night.

This is not the first time that the fee at IIT has been hiked but the increment of Rs.8000 is a huge and unaccepted leap, said Sayan. He further added that such a huge hike is illegal on so many levels when Kharagpur is one of the cheapest cities in India.

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The students have been striking for over 24 hours and have decided that they will not stop the strike unless the administration withdraws this decision.