Shillong, Nov 8: Teachers under the banner of the North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) and Meghalaya Tribal Teachers’ Association (MeTTA) on Friday sought the intervention of the Meghalaya Governor CH Vijayashankar, who is also the chief rector of NEHU, to end the ongoing impasse and restore normalcy in the university.

This came after the university was out under total lockdown following the ongoing indefinite hunger strike protest led by the North Eastern Hill University Students’ Union (NEHUSU) and backed by the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU – NEHU Unit) against the alleged failure of the Vice Chancellor Prof PS Shukla to terminate the services of the Registrar and Deputy Registrar, whose appointment according to them were “illegal”.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, president of NEHUTA Prof Lakhon Pakma said, “We had a long discussion on the issues raised by the NEHUSU and KSU-NEHU Unit as well as teacher associations. We have not arrived at any solution per se but we appreciate the seriousness of the Governor as chief rector of NEHU as he assured us that he would take all necessary measures in order to restore normalcy in the university.”

“He (governor) has advised us to come up with suggestions to end the agitation. Therefore, we will go back and discuss with the teachers and also the NEHUSU, who is leading the agitation before coming back to the Governor,” he said while adding “We will come up with necessary suggestions on how best we can resolve the issue. He has assured us as chief rector to take necessary steps. His main concern is that our kids should not go on hunger strike like this as it is so bad as university is meant for them and if they are not there, nobody will be there. VCs may come and go, teachers and non-teaching staff may come and go but university must stay and it should be for the student community.”

He said that the teachers are very concerned about the health of the students as they have been on a hunger protest for the past 4 days now.

“He (governor) left it to us to suggest first how to end the hunger strike so that students will go back to their classes and at the same time to look at short-term solutions and long-term solutions. He assured to talk to all stakeholders including students…,” he added.

Prof Kma, however, said the students are very firm on their stand and it is justified also.

Slamming the VC’s indifferent attitude, he said, “We know how students have arrived at from asking the registrar and deputy registrar to step down and now asking the VC to step down because they have been on hunger strike for more than 48 hours and he did nothing. At least he should have shown some sense of care for the students.”

“Now you are the head of the institute and under you, right outside your office, young kids are on a hunger strike. When they brought the grievances, he should have immediately reacted with action. You cannot say people are on hunger strike and I will do nothing. That is actually the problem. Why this VC is in trouble is because he has always been like this, as he never assesses the gravity of the situation. If anybody who has a sensible mind, if at the very instant people are agitating, he would have constituted whatever deems fit to address the concerns of the students,” he stated.

Further, NEHUTA president said that the allegations against the registrar and deputy registrar are not vague.

“We all know as teachers and we are the observers over there day in and day out and we know exactly what the registrar and deputy registrar have done. They are incapable. There is no doubt about it. They are incompetent yet he didn’t do anything to address the concerns of the teachers and the students. So naturally if I was leading this agitation probably, I would have done the same thing,” he added.

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