Nepali Students Are Returning After Protest, Have Set Up Control Room: KIIT Additional Registrar
Over 100 students have come back to the university and more are on their way as they are coming from different cities and states, said Additional Registrar of KIIT University.
The Nepali students who were asked to vacate the hostel of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha have started to return to the varsity. The students were asked to leave following a protest after the suicide of a Nepali student.
However, Dr Shyam Sundar Behura, Additional Registrar of KIIT University, explained to ANI, that the students had started to return back to the university and that the classes had commenced as per usual. He said that a dedicated control room was set to be connected to the parents and that the parents were sending back the wards who had gone back home.
#WATCH | Bhubaneswar, Odisha | Death of Nepali girl at KIIT University | Additional Registrar of KIIT University, Dr Shyam Sundar Behura says, "They (Nepali students) have started returning. A dedicated control room has been set up through which we are connected to the… pic.twitter.com/t4ntX0oXg8
— ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2025
“They were coming back since February 18 evening, both boys and girls have arrived,” Dr Behura said.
Over 100 students have come back to the university, Dr Behura said, and more are on their way as they are coming from different cities and states. He said that there are no more protests by the students. All the students are being taken care of. “Their food, transport and academics are being taken care of” he added.
When asked about the students who are still participating in protests and if they were from outside or from KIIT, Dr Behura said: “Yes, they are probably from outside as none of the KIIT students have been participating in any protests.”
He said that KIIT is complying with the Government of Odisha, and “every support is being rendered by the university.”
When asked if there was a tense environment in the university, he said, “No there is no tense situation, in an academic institute with over 40,000 students, because there are classes going everything is normal.” He further added that KIIT’s main concern is that all students should come back to the campus and that they were doing their best to bring them back.
“I think it will be the biggest moment to bring them all back to the campus,” Dr Behura.
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Following the intervention of the Centre and the state government, the KIIT authorities had tendered an apology and requested the Nepali students to return to the campus. The state government has opened a round-the-clock help desk, to facilitate the Nepalese students' safe return, according to a PTI report.
The High-Level Committee of the Odisha government probing the alleged suicide of a girl student and subsequent action against KIIT authorities relating to Nepal students has asked Dr Achyuta Samanta, Founder of the institute, to appear before it on Friday.
The unrest in KIIT began after the alleged suicide of 20-year-old Prakriti Lamsal, a student from Nepal, on Sunday afternoon. Other Nepalese students staged agitation and demanded justice. However, the KIIT authorities issued suspension notices to about 1,000 Nepalese students and asked them to leave the campus on Monday.
The police have registered two cases in connection with the alleged suicide of the Nepalese student and the subsequent attacks on the youths from the neighbouring country allegedly by the staffers of KIIT.
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