Exams held at NIT, about 1,000 outstation students skip

The situation on campus was peaceful with no untoward incident taking place, said an NIT official. The examinations started today as per schedule with all local students and some outstation students appearing in today's papers, the official told PTI in Srinagar. Outstation students, who did not appear in the examinations today have been given the option by HRD ministry to write them at a later date.
The Board of Governors of NIT Srinagar also met today to discuss various issues about the institute. Among other issues, the demand of students that their marksheets be externally evaluated has also been there. Some more consultations can be held and feedback taken in this regard and a policy decision may be taken, a senior official said. During the day today, three men from Delhi tried to enter the NIT campus for hoisting the national flag. They were part of a group of about 150 people from Delhi who were intending to go to NIT but were detained in Jammu yesterday. The three, who had given a slip to police and reached Srinagar, were detained just outside the main gate of the institute as they pulled out the national flag and tried to enter the campus, a police official said. He said one of the detained person has been identified as Tejinder Singh Bagga.
"We have come from Delhi to hand over the tricolour to the students (for hoisting) but police has snatched the flags from us," Bagga told reporters before he was taken into custody. He said over 150 activists had started from Delhi to march to the NIT but most of them were detained in Jammu. Only three of us made it to Srinagar, he added. Before being whisked away in a police vehicle, Bagga was confronted by some local residents who accused him of trying to vitiate the atmosphere in the NIT campus. "Why have you come here? The students -- local or outstation -- all our children. They are our responsibility and we know how to take care of them. You need not come from so far away," a middle-aged man told Bagga. NIT Srinagar has been at the centre of a controversy since April 1 when clashes broke out between outstation and local students following India's defeat to West Indies in the World Cup T20 semi-final.
The situation worsened on April 5 when outstation students tried to take out a march outside the campus but were stopped by the police, leading to incidents of violence including vandalism by students and lathicharge by police. The students held protests against the police action, prompting the Union HRD ministry to send a team of officials to take defuse the situation.

PTI