Food cooked by students of IMPS, Malda, being distributed and (above) some of the students fleeing the hostel. Pictures by Surajit Roy

Malda, Sept. 17: The Malda district administration today asked students of the Institute of Management and Professional Studies (IMPS) to vacate the hostels, an order that had already been issued by the college authorities.

The administration has also set September 24 as the date for a meeting between the college authorities and the students.

Trouble started on Saturday after the would-be engineers called an indefinite strike demanding better infrastructure and placement opportunities.

The college authorities called the representatives of third and fourth year students for a discussion. But the talks were inconclusive and the students started demonstrating on the campus. They claimed that their protests were peaceful, but a large force from Englishbazar police station arrived and beat them up.

“The order to vacate was given fearing a law and order problem,” said additional district magistrate Purnachandra Sheet. He said the district administration had intervened after the students approached them with their grievances.

However, with the students declaring that all of them would be present at the September 24 meeting, the administration is in a spot. “We told them that the demand was unacceptable. We can allow only five to six representatives,” Sheet said.

A police patrol has been posted on the campus which, the college authorities claimed, is out of bounds for them. “There has been a widespread ransacking and classes cannot resume till the rooms are repaired,” said IMPS principal B.P. Sarkar.

The students said they will not leave the campus till the college authorities provided them with all that was promised during admission and ensured 90 per cent job placement.

“There are no study material in the library and it is not possible for all of us to buy expensive books. We also do not have a permanent faculty,” said a student not wanting to be named.

The district SFI has lent its support to the movement.

The secretary of the Malda SFI, Joy Chakrabarty, said the student wing would stand by those who did not want to vacate the hostels.