Snakes, dilapidated rooms at old campus lead students to protest against IIIT director's order in AP

Andhra Pradesh's IIIT Idupulapaya campus in the Vempalle mandal of the Kadapa district was witness to a tense atmosphere for the second day in a row. Almost 2,000 girl students pursuing P1 and P2 courses in the institute were ordered to move back to the old campus in RK Valley on Saturday, March 19. However, the students claim that the old campus is extremely dilapidated and have even complained of spotting snakes wandering about. 

The order was filed by IIIT Idupulapaya Director K Sandhya Rani. Parents claim that they have tried to reach out to her in vain. This riled up the parents and students, who have been staging a dharna at the new campus since Sunday. Things took an ugly turn on Monday, when there were reports of students and security staff jostling at the gate. It was then that the IIIT Chancellor Chenchu Reddy, along with Pulivendula Urban Development Authority OSD Anil Kumar, visited the campus and interacted with the agitating students. He promised to address their issues at the earliest, according to a report by The New Indian Express.

On the other hand, when the Kadapa District Collector V Vijay Rama Raju called up the IIIT Director and sought an explanation, she said P1 and P2 students need to be shifted to the old campus to accommodate the E1 batch. While admitting that the conditions at the old campus had deteriorated due to a lack of proper upkeep during the COVID-19 pandemic, she had promised that it would be spruced up within a week.