Amidst raging protests on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA), the students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras are set to protest and meet the Director, Dr Bhaskar Ramamurthy, to discuss the unexpected and sudden closure of the Krishna Gate in the middle of the night without any prior notice. The gates were allegedly closed because "outside protesters" are coming into the institute and banned items were being brought in through the gate.
It is not just "atrocious" and "shady" behaviour on the administrations end but it is hampering their daily life, said students. "The non-technical staff and students around the Krishna gate will be in trouble if this gate is closed," said a student who wished to remain anonymous. "This is the nearest gate to all the hostels. We put this as our pick up point when we book cabs as well. And all the food deliveries also come to the Krishna gate," he added.
ChintaBAR, an IIT-Madras student group, demanded that the authorities open the gate with immediate effect as the gate is used not just by the students but the IITM staff and the Kendriya Vidyalaya on campus as well. "We demand that the students and student representatives be taken into confidence before taking any such decision," they added.
Some claimed that the administration has not put out a notice informing the students that the gate will be closed. "They are planning to fully close the gate. The institute administration didn't inform the students through any means. We don't have a mechanism to inform all the students," a student said. "There are regular police patrols, security check-up and it even has security cameras installed at the gate. Why not put the biometrics to use so that students only enter into the campus," he added.
The next semester is due to start in 15 days and research scholar have paid up to Rs 60,000 to get rooms closer to the Krishna Gate just because it is more accessible than the others in the 2.5 km² campus. The institute was in the news when a German exchange student was allegedly asked to leave the country for participating in protests against the CAA. Jakob Lidenthal is pursuing a course with the Physics Department and has to complete one more semester here. He flew out of the country on Monday night. The action came days after tweets of Jakob holding placards against the CAA went viral.
