FTII students, I&B officials to hold talks in Mumbai tomorrow

MUMBAI: The FTII students who called off their relay hunger strike yesterday after the government agreed to come to the negotiating table, will hold talks with Information and Broadcasting ministry officials here tomorrow.

The meeting will take place at the office of the Films Division in Mumbai at 11 AM tomorrow, Vikas Urs, spokesman of the FTII Students' Association (FSA), told PTI today.

Asked if FTII students had a specific agenda for the meeting, Urs said, "There is no agenda. We want the issue to be resolved and all our concerns addressed."

When asked if students are firm on removal of FTII Chairperson Gajendra Chauhan, Urs said, "Our demands are not limited to removal of a person".

Among many other issues, the students have two main demands, namely to dissolve the present FTII society and simultaneously set up a new search committee, through a transparent process in place to look into appointments of chairperson, members and other staff.

They also want FTII to be given the status of a premier national institute like the IIT and the IIM, so that no bureaucrat is appointed as FTII's director.

"We don't have any personal animosity against Gajendra Chauhan and other members. We want someone, who truly has a body of work of national and international standards," a former FTII student said.

After a police crackdown on students who had gheraoed FTII director Prashant Pathrabe, the Union I&B Ministry had appointed a three-member panel headed by S M Khan, the Registrar of Newspapers for India, to have a dialogue with the students.

The step was taken due to all-round pressure from students, their parents, alumni association as well as the film fraternity to end the logjam.

The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry appointed committee had visited FTII's Pune campus on August 21 and held rounds of discussions with students, faculty members and the alumni association.