NIT Srinagar to reopen today: students ‘wait and Watch’ before joining

Wahid Bhat| Srinagar

National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar will reopen on Tuesday, more than two and half months after all the outstation students were evacuated from the campus and sent back to their respective states in days leading up to what turned out to be the government’s announcement of its decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir when BJP led government scrapped article 370 and article 35A besides divided the State of Jammu and Kashmir into two union Territories (UT) one is Ladkah and Jammu and Kashmir. 

The Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), last month, had made announcement in this regard. A circular was later sent to the students; the information was also uploaded on the institute’s website.

According to reports, most outstation students are not likely to join up due to fear over the ongoing security situation in the state and have instead decided to wait and watch.

The opening of the institute comes amid efforts by the Centre, in recent days, to restore normalcy in the state. On Monday, postpaid mobile connections were restored in the Valley, while a few political leaders, who were taken into preventive custody early August have been released. More are expected to be released in coming days depending upon the ground situation.

Tourists, too, are now re-allowed to visit the state, which, from October 31, as part of the August 5 announcement, will be split into separate union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Established in 1960, NIT Srinagar, as per MHRD, has a total strength of 2,800, of which 1,800 are hostel-dwellers, all of whom are expected to return for the session.

The institute, however, has been rocked by controversies in the past as well. In 2016, clashes broke out between local and non-local students after former celebrated India’s loss to the West Indies in the semifinals of the 2016 World T20 tournament.

As a result of this, the non-local students also staged protests demanding that the institute be shifted out of Kashmir.