TISS strike: Management asks students to not obstruct Mumbai campus gate

TISS students have been protesting by closing the campus gates. (Express Photo by Janak Rathod)

Six days into the protest at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, and after two unsuccessful attempts at negotiating with students, the administration on Monday issued them a notice to “not obstruct” the main gate of the campus. The letter, issued by the registrar of the Institute, stated that the residents of the campus complained of “restricted movement” and urged students to free the main gate, which has been blocked as a mark of protest. Failure to do so would invoke action, read the notice.

“Failure to adhere immediately to the request of opening the gate and removing the blockade to maintain normalcy within the campus shall compel the Institute to take recourse to action,” read the letter, copy of which was marked to the commissioner of police and local police station. The students, however, stood their ground and burned copies of the notice in protest as they continued to block the main gate.“We have been protesting democratically. The Institute cannot threaten us into calling the strike off,” said Fahad Ahmad, general secretary, TISS Students’ Union.

The campus is home to hostels, dining halls, daycares as well as residences of faculty and officials. Since the main gate is blocked, people are forced to use the rear exit. The Union has reiterated its demands and said that the strike would continue unless the Institute agrees to all their demands. The second round of negotiations, held late Sunday night, did not yield any results.

Story continues below this ad

PK Shajahan, Dean, Students’ Affairs, said that the Institute has agreed to waive off the entire fee, including hostel and dining hall charges, for the 2016-18 batch. “We have also said we will try to resolve the matter for the 2017-19 batch in a matter of few months. We plan to approach corporates for CSR funds. We are also saying that the 2018-20 batch can pay the hostel and dining hall charges in installments.

The student union is not content and protests continue,” said Shajahan. Student are protesting against the withdrawal of financial aid to Go India-Post Matriculation Scholarship (GOI-PMS) from SC/ST category across all the campuses of the Institute.