NIT situation needs to be solved through negotiation: MoS Ram Shankar Katheria

Agartala: Union Minister Ram Shankar Katheria Wednesday said the student unrest at Srinagar's National Institute of Technology (NIT) needs to be solved through negotiation.

"It was reported that there was confrontation between two groups of students at Srinagar NIT and it needs to be solved through negotiation," he told reporters here.

Tension started brewing inside the NIT campus, located on the banks of the famous Dal lake, last week after India lost to West Indies in the semi-final in the T-20 cricket tournament prompting some local students to rejoice and burst crackers.

This was protested by outstation students resulting in clashes.

Since March 31 night, the situation inside the campus has been volatile and the authorities had posted personnel from Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB). The local police was manning the main gate of the institute.

The developments prompted the NIT authorities to close the campus on Saturday, but reopened it on Monday. Last evening, the outstation students tried to march out of the campus saying they wanted to return to their homes.

A senior police official, who attempted to pacify them, was heckled and pushed around resulting in a mild lathicharge in which four students sustained injuries.

During his maiden visit to Tripura, the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, inaugurated the newly constructed Golden Jubilee Knowledge Centre at the NIT Agartala campus.

In his inaugural speech, Katheria said the Institute should be equipped with more modern technologies and students should get faster internet connectivity.

Katheria said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was very keen on development of the North-East and has asked the ministers to visit the region to understand its problems.

More initiative for development of the region would be taken, he assured.

"Development in Tripura with Manik Sarkar as the Chief Minister is not visible and the law and order situation in the state is also not good. We want law and order situation to improve here," Katheria added.