Support Pours in for Students Protesting against IIT Bombay Fee Hike
- IIT-B students started a relay hunger strike on Monday afternoon opposing the fee hike imposed.
- Shashi Tharoor was of the opinion that the fee hike is unreasonable and the government shall stay the hike intervene in the matter for the interest of the students.
Students of the premier engineering institute, IIT-Bombay started a relay hunger strike on Monday afternoon (3rd July) opposing the fee hike that has been imposed by the institute.
Many took to Twitter and other social mediums to show support to these students. One among them was Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor. He was of the opinion that the fee hike is unreasonable following which the government shall stay the hike and must intervene in the matter for the interest of the students who are pursuing higher education at the institute. He also sought a complete explanation from the authorities concerned.
Also Read: IIT Bombay Students Stage Protest Over Fee Hike
The students of the institute have been boycotting the classes from the third week of June following the fee hike announcement made by the engineering institute. IIT Bombay has introduced a 300% hike in the hostel rent, 100% hike in the exam fee, 167% hike in the gymkhana fee and about 50% hike in the medical and registration charges etc. This has resulted in soaring fees - for instance - the hostel fee has gone up from Rs. 500 per semester to Rs. 2000 per semester beginning this year, i.e. three times of the previous structure. Likewise, the mess advance fee has been set at Rs. 20,000 as against the previous Rs. 15,000.
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While explaining the fee hike, IIT Bombay officials stated that the hike is linked to inflation. They said that a committee will intervene and publish an update soon. Students will have to be patient and give the college some time to act on it, revealed Soumyo Mukherji who is the Dean, Student Affairs at IIT Bombay.
Students said that the administration of the college has been doing nothing but just giving out false promises of rolling back the fee hike. However, the agitated students, on the other hand, feel that hike is extremely unfair as well as unwarranted.