If you ever need to enter IIT Madras, be prepared to shell out a bomb. The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has released a revised list of charges (as of May 17, 2019) for entry passes and some of the passes have been hiked several times over (almost 48x in some cases). The previous rates were pretty much standard at Rs 50 for most of the entry passes, excepting a few. Now those charges have also doubled in the newly revised list.
The employee pass for two-wheelers has increased from Rs 50 to Rs 300 (for three years) for one vehicle, plus an add on of 150 rupees for every extra vehicle. For employee cars, it has been increased to Rs 450 per car. The project staff pass has increased to Rs 500 for two-wheelers and Rs 2000 (for one year) for four-wheelers. The day scholars now have to pay Rs 500 for one vehicle and Rs 1000 for two and the four wheelers cost exactly double.
The alumni whose vehicles were allowed inside for Rs 50, will now have to pay Rs 1200 for two-wheelers and Rs 2400 for four-wheelers for the yearly pass. The walkers' pass for a year has also doubled from Rs 500 to Rs 1000. Those working at the bank and the post office have to now pay upto Rs 450 per year to take their vehicles in.
For private vehicles entering the campus there were previously no charges but now vehicles will be charged a whopping 1000 rupees for four-wheelers, Rs 750 for autos and Rs 500 for two-wheelers per day.
The servant quarter vehicles are also being treated on par with employees of IIT and being charged the same amounts. The part-time domestic helps are being charged Rs 300 now (for six months) Vendor vehicles also have to start paying double every quarter of the year.
However, the people who could possibly be most affected are the parents of the students studying inside the campus — there are two schools, KV IIT and Vana Vani Matric Hr Sec School — they now have to pay Rs 600 for two-wheelers and Rs 1200 for cars per academic year. The entry charges for school vans and autos has increased from Rs 500 to Rs 2400 and Rs 800 respectively.
The Ambedkar Periyar Student Circle pointed out in its statement that 25 percent of the school students have been admitted through RTE and burdening the parents with such heavy charges is unfair to them. "For the nearly 4000 school students who study inside the campus, this would amount to a collection of several lakhs of rupees per year," they said.
They also condemned that fact that alumni have to pay upto Rs 2400 for their passes when they already pay for the library and other facilities.
According to the list, the charges came into effect on May 17 and the APSC told us that parents had already complained to them about the high prices they were paying for the passes. "Like a parking contractor in the mall or a toll gate contractor in the 4-lane roads, a public education institute is looting people in the name of security passes, which doesn't happen even in private colleges," the student group said in their statement.
APSC also says this new move would make the campus exclusionary and convert it into a gated community. "Also, this seems to be a mechanism to compensate for the reduction of government funds, which is a direct result of the policy of privatizing the Indian higher education," they added.
IIT Madras' Director was unavailable for comment.
