Students at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta are temporarily relieved as all four messes on campus have started functioning once more. On November 8, the eateries were shut down and the mess workers went on strike, bringing up a situation that the students described as a "siege".
It was in September that about 40 mess workers and the mess contractor were fired from the New Hostel mess at the institute after students complained of unhygienic food. The students claimed that they allegedly fell sick due to the contaminated food and had to move to other hostels during their exams to eat. Eventually, a new mess contractor was hired, but it did not bode well with the old workers, who protested.
The students were, of course, the ones left to bear the brunt of the issue. However, today, November 10, a student stated that the matter has been temporarily resolved. "Out of the four, three mess workers are willing to restart working. Only the New Hostel workers weren't ready. But now, the institute administration negotiated with the workers and they have agreed to work," the student said, on the condition of anonymity.
"However, we don't know if they will continue working or for how long the negotiations will work. We are sure that this is temporary as the administration has not officially conveyed anything and no permanent solution has been chalked out," he added and further informed that there were internal meetings going on among the administration members. "We will also hold negotiations with the administration in a few days," he said.
