Did IIT Kharagpur ask students to pay the mess and electricity fee for an online semester?

The students of IIT Kharagpur are calling for a boycott of the next semester's registration after the institute allegedly demanded that the students pay for facilities, even though the students may not avail owing to the lockdown. The students tell us that they have been asked to pay for electricity, water, mess, Gymkhana and the Technology Film Society.

"Why are we being charged for these facilities without any concession since we won't be using them for the full semester even if the college reopens from September?" asks a student who did not wish to be named. He added that there are speculations that the next semester may be online, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The mess fee which used to be Rs 12,000 per semester earlier is now reduced to Rs 10,000. I don't understand why the mess fees have been lowered by only Rs 2,000 when we are not going to use the mess at all for the entire semester. We are ready to pay full tuition fee and the non-employment allowance for mess workers. But this is too much," he says. "A portion of the fees for the last semester (Spring 2019-2020), especially for activities and facilities which were not availed by students after the imposition of the lockdown on campus, has neither been discussed nor reimbursed," he added.

The administration of IIT Kharagpur could not be reached for a comment. This copy will be updated as and when we recieve a reply from them.