Srinagar, Apr 24: The chairman of the Board of Governors at the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, Wajahat Habibullah, Saturday said the state government must get the CRPF troopers shifted from the NIT hostels as condition in the existing ones was “intolerable and pathetic.”
 “I happened to visit the hostels along with senior NIT functionaries, and I found their condition intolerable,” he told Greater Kashmir.
 “The Centre government has already asked the state government to get the CRPF troopers, stationed in NIT hostels on Dal Lake banks, shifted to some other location. I think move should take place as early as possible,” he said.
 Wajahat, who chaired a “crucial” BOG meeting on Friday to review the Institute functioning, said, “I found five students sharing a room meant for two. I saw them holding laptops in their laps, with rooms in a messy situation. That can’t be tolerated.”
 The Institute, Wajahat said, lacked adequate internet facility for the students and academics. “The students met me and apprised me about their problems. I promised them prompt action. They believe the facilities in their laboratories are fewer and there are not many computers in place. That needs be looked into immediately,” Wajahat, also India’s Chief Information Commissioner, said.
 Sources said irked by the administration’s Lackasadical approach, scores of students cornered Wajahat on Friday evening, urging him to address their problems. They said a couple of hostels, a playground, and a guesthouse have been partially or fully under the CRPF for years now, overburdening the existing hostels.
 “It is the policy of the state government to vacate troopers from the educational institutions. But we fail to understand why this policy has not been implemented in NIT. When they can do it with Kashmir University, why not NIT?” asked a group of academics, wishing anonymity.
 Wajahat said during his visit to the hostels, he talked to a cabinet secretary at the Higher Education wing of the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development and apprised him about their condition. “The state government therefore must shift the CRPF to some other place so that the students can be accommodated in the hostels at ease,” he said.
 Asked what transpired during the BOG meeting, Wajahat said, “We took a policy decision that academics at the NIT shall be encouraged to give lectures or understand research projects in other reputed institutions in India and aboard. But that shall be allowed only if the students don’t suffer back home. Our primary concern is the NIT students. They should not suffer anyway. We will encourage academics to undertake academic assignments provided the students don’t suffer.”
 The development, according to sources, comes in the wake of complaints to BOG that the NIT authorities were “discouraging” academics to give lecturers and “sabotaging” their research projects.
 Asked about the teachers’ accusation that the authorities were not furnishing information under the Right to Information Act, Wajahat said, “If such a thing happened, they should have approached me directly as I am the Chief Information Commissioner. But in any case we won’t allow anyone to vandalize it.”
 Meanwhile, Wajahat said he would examine the “memorandum” presented to him by the NIT academics. The memorandum has challenged the NIT director’s seniority besides accusing him of “bringing the activities in the Institute to a standstill.”
 “Our objective is to see this institute flourishing and becoming a centre of excellence. And we will try our best to work in this regard,” Wajahat said.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 24 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 24 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST