Letter to IITK, 18th April, 2011

To,

Dr. S. G. Dhande, Director
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

We welcome the decision of the Director's Office to set up some public

facilities (i.e. drinking water, toilets and lavatories) around the

campus for the convenience of construction, horticulture, cleaning,

domestic and other workers. We understand that the director's order

include immediately making existing facilities in hostels, academic and

administrative buildings available to the workers while the new ones are

built.

IIT Kanpur community has been requesting for provision of the

*_adequate_* (not "some") basic amenities for the contract workers for a

number of years. We appreciate that finally the institute has agreed to

right this wrong for the dignity and privacy of workers. We hope this

assurance will soon be converted into a time-bound action plan. May we

know when will these facilities be available to the workers?

Hamara Manch and the ever growing community of concerned alumni, now

more than 1500, who have wholeheartedly supported workers' struggle,

will continue to seek redress of their grievances at IITK. We would like

to see and assist the Institute in doing the right thing not just for

the students but also for all the workers whose labor makes IITK a place

where first class education is made possible.

Sincerely,

Ashok Gupta
Raj Sahai
Sushil Handa
Amit Singh