Move to provide CISF security cover for IIST campus kicks up row

Thiruvananthapuram: Deployment of gun-toting security personnel in a college campus might seem strange. But students and faculty at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Valiamala here will have to get used to them as the institute has decided to deploy an armed battalion of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to guard the campus from May 15.
On Tuesday, IIST director convened a meeting to inform the staff about the decision. However, a section of the staff and students alleged that it was the unilateral decision of the director and a few administrative staff who have vested interests.
IIST director K S Dasgupta told TOI that the decision was based on a directive from the department of space. The institute shares a common boundary with the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), a research and development centre functioning under Indian Space Research Organisation and could be a soft target for anti-social elements, he said. "The priority is to ensure proper security," Dasgupta said. When asked about any intelligence alerts, he said: "We cannot rule that out but it cannot be shared with media."However, an official of the existing security agency said that there was no such intelligence alert.
The IIST administration has issued orders to terminate the service of the existing security personnel who are mostly ex-servicemen. The move has upset a majority of the faculty and students and they have closed ranks behind the security personnel who have written to the institute's chancellor U R Rao and the Union home ministry urging them to reconsider the IIST director's decision. The security personnel have also sought BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan's intervention.
Currently, about 100 personnel, including ex-servicemen, retired police officials, and female guards handle the security services at the IIST campus. Notices have been sent to these contract workers on termination of their service, which will come into effect from May 1.
According to sources, deployment of the CISF personnel at the IIST will cost about Rs 15 crore a year. Four hostel rooms on the campus will be set aside for storing arms and ammunition. The CISF personnel will be ensured all infrastructural facilities. In comparison, maintenance costs for the existing security staff amounted to only Rs 12 lakh per year, an official said, requesting anonymity. "Initially, when the IIST functioned in the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) campus, the CISF personnel were caught selling liquor to some students after getting it at subsidised rates from the defence canteen," said the official at IIST. When IIST was shifted to a new campus, the then IIST director BN Suresh had made it clear that there was no need to post CISF personnel and that ordinary security was sufficient inside the institute campus.
"The deployment of CISF personnel will curtail students' freedom. At present, girl students working in research labs on the campus at late hours have nothing to worry as there are female guards and elderly security personnel on the campus. However, the presence of armed personnel can be scary," said a faculty member.
"The IIST administration has been putting on hold modernization of its lab citing fund shortage. The institution doesn't have an auditorium and facilities to hold cultural programmes. Even the quality of food offered to students at hostels has been deteriorating over the years," said a student.