No ACs, coolers in hostel, IIM-Amritsar students hold protest by sleeping in mess

Neha Saini

Amritsar, June 15

In a unique symbolic protest, a video that had gone viral two days back shows that students of IIM-Amritsar sleeping in the institute’s mess as a mark of silent protest against the management’s failure to provide air-conditioner or even air-coolers on the campus accommodation.

This video shows students sleeping on tables and chairs as they spent the night in the mess area, reportedly one of the few spots on the campus with air-conditioning facilities.

Being run in temporary building

• The IIM-Amritsar is being run from a temporary facility in Government Polytechnic. The hostels and lodging facilities for students and faculty too are being run on leased buildings
• Established in 2015 with just 45 students in its first batch, the IIM-Amritsar has more than 600 students, who are waiting for the work on the permanent campus to be completed

With the intense heatwave gripping parts of Punjab and Haryana since May, the temperature in Amritsar has been hovering between 45-48 degrees Celsius for the past few days. Thus, this video has caught online users’ attention. They commended the students’ unusually smart way of putting their demand forward without using any aggressive means.

Speaking on the issue, one of the students, who is part of the student media representative team from IIM-Amritsar, shared that the management was informed about the issue and they were assured that their rooms would soon get air-coolers.

“We had taken up the issue with the management and a letter was also written, officially requesting AC or cooler for student accommodation. We hope that it will be done soon,” he said.

Another student added, “The heat is unbearable at times. The demand was put forward last year, too, but not much was achieved. Since hostel accommodations and even the campus are being run on a temporary accommodation, we hope that the shift to new building will resolve the problem.”

As soon as the video went viral, the management took action and has instructed the authorities to install air-coolers in 300 rooms in the student accommodation.

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha, chairperson, Media and PR, IIM-Amritsar, said, “Regarding the viral video on social media, it’s important to clarify that the students had gathered after their meal in the mess hall of the institute. It was about the demand for air-conditioning in the hostels. Students had raised this issue with the authorities and the video was posted the same day. The institute has informed the students that the hostels are on a leased property and installing around 300 air-conditioners will add an estimated 375 KW power load, overloading the system. Instead, the institute has proposed installing coolers in the rooms. An expression of interest has been invited and the installation of coolers is expected to be completed within three weeks.”