Agitating NIT students meet Rajnath Singh

NEW DELHI: A group of NIT, Srinagar students today met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and discussed about the ongoing stir on the campus following clashes between local and outstation students.

During the 20-minute meeting, the students placed various demands, including shifting of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) campus from Srinagar.

The Home Minister is understood to have assured the aggrieved students of security on the campus and suggested them to concentrate on their studies, official sources said.

Tension started brewing inside the NIT campus, located on the banks of Dal lake in Jammu and Kashmir, on March 31 after India lost to West Indies in semi-final of the T-20 World Cup cricket tournament prompting some local students to rejoice and burst fire crackers. The incident led to protests by outstation students, resulting in clashes between the two groups.

The situation has since been volatile there. Paramilitary forces have been deployed in the campus. The local police are manning the main gate of the institute.

Yesterday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had dismissed the possibility of shifting NIT out of the Valley.

"As far as demands of some students to shift the NIT campus out of Srinagar is considered, let me make it clear that it won't be possible," she had said.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development had sent a three-member team to the campus last week to take stock of the situation. The team will be in Srinagar till the ongoing exams conclude.