Government assures Srinagar NIT students to shed apprehensions about violence

New Delhi:  Minister of State Prime Minister's Office ( PMO) Jitendra Singh on Sunday said students of Srinagar's National Institute of Technology (NIT) should shed their apprehensions about violence on the campus. Singh told ANI that the government understood their concern and stands by them in this hour of pain. "I would like to assure the students and people of Jammu and Kashmir that the government feels the pain of the residents of the state and is taking due cognisance of the case," Singh said. "Today, I spoke to Governor N.N. Vohra and the Director General of Police in the same regard. All in all I would like to say that students of NIT should not get tensed and or feel neglected," he added. Singh further said that the academy will start functioning once normalcy is restored in the state, as the Centre does not want any sort of communal tension to grip the campus. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had earlier assured that students of Srinagar's NIT would be protected. Tension prevailed in the NIT after India lost the World T20 semi-final to the West Indies on Thursday night. Some engineering students from outside the state claimed Kashmiri students had chanted anti-India slogans and burst firecrackers after India's loss. To control the situation, officials closed the institute's entrance and did not allow anyone to enter. The police had to be called in after efforts by the NIT officials to control the situation and disperse the crowd failed. The police baton charged the protestors and fired teargas to bring the situation under control.