Centre sends committee to NIT after 4 student suicides

Chandigarh: Alarmed by the suicide of four students at NIT-Kurukshetra in just two months, higher education ministry on Tuesday sent a committee to the campus.On the same day, NIT authorities replaced the deans in charge of academics, faculty welfare and research and consultancy. The chief warden and wardens of the hostel were reshuffled last week, a spokesperson said.The central team, led by deputy secretary Heera Lal, arrived on campus in the afternoon. They first interacted with students, and then spoke separately with hostel wardens, deans, non-teaching staff and the institute director."It was a one-on-one interaction with all stakeholders. Authorities have apprised the team about measures taken so far and further course of action. The team also interacted with counsellors at the health centre," said institute spokesperson Gian Bhushan.The prestigious institute is shaken by a series of suicides, the first of which was on Feb 16, when Amgot Shiva of Telangana's Rangareddy district was found hanging. Police identified financial distress as the possible reason. On April 2, Pawan Kumar of Haryana's Nuh died by suicide. Police found a final note but it didn't give any clue to the motive. Just eight days later, Sirsa native Priyanshu, 22, a third-year civil engineering student, was found hanging in his hostel room. No suicide note was found. And on April 17, one of the toppers of the institute, BTech second year student Diksha Dubey, died by suicide.With emotions running high on campus after Diksha's suicide, the institute announced vacations till May 4 and asked boarders to vacate the premises. Police say none of the suicides is linked.MSID:: 130420470 413 |