Protest letter by IIT/K alumni at TIFR

Dear Dr. Dhande,

   We, IIT/K alumni at TIFR, Mumbai, are writing this letter to register our collective protest in the context of at least two additional deaths and at least three serious injuries to the contract workers on campus since your Office Order DIR/IITK/2007/89 dated September 16, 2007 (as is amply pointed out in say, the open letter to the Deputy Director by campus community members, dated 8/10/09). We also recall that the office order itself came in wake of at least three deaths of workers in 2007 various accounts of which were posted on the alumni channels (and also in the mainstream media).

   We also understand (as is clearly explained in the open letter mentioned above, but also evident from your own office order) that the institute, the 'principal employer' of contract workers, has not merely moral, but also legal obligations. In fact, consequent to the events in 2007, institute had formed  various committees - e.g. Varman committee for implementation of Medical Facilities and Iyer committee on safety - to look into such issues in more detail.

   It really disappoints us to see that in spite of various detailed reports submitted to the institute by those committees, no follow up action seems to have been taken. It anguishes us to see that this happens even in the continuous backdrop of deaths and grave injuries.

   It is a matter of collective shame for all of us, that mere construction activity in the campus turns to be such a life threatening hazard, especially when we seek to be a  "world class institute", aiming to "not only celebrate freedom of thought, cultivate vision and encourage growth, but also inculcate human values and concern for the environment and the society".

   We believe you are with us when we want to make IIT/K into an institute of excellence, but one whose history does not carry the burden of avoidable deaths and grave injuries -- certainly not of the very people who have built this institute brick by brick. Indeed we would rather like us to be setting an example to the rest of India that we immensely care about human life and dignity of labor, as much as we care about producing high quality engineers and scientists.

   We write to you in this grave context strongly urging that the institute moves towards implementation of its own committees' reports. As a reference point, we are also attaching a broad but clear policy document that was made by the volunteers of institute's Minimum Wage Monitoring Committee in 2006, which we believe contains ample outlines on what needs to be done.

   We look forward to hearing from you, should you require any more details, or have suggestions as to how we can help.

with due regards,

(Signatures in the attached file).

Attachments:

   1. letter.pdf (Signatures, scanned)

   2. policy.pdf (policy document by MWMC volunteers as referred in the letter)

CC.

  1. Prof. M. Anandakrishnan , Chairman IIT Kanpur

  2. Members of the Board of Governers IIT Kanpur

  3. Prof. R. K. Thareja, Deputy Director, IIT Kanpur

  4. Shri Sanjeev S. Kashalkar, Registrar, IIT Kanpur

  5. Prof. Sanjeev K. Aggarwal, Dean, Resource Planning and Generation, IIT Kanpur

  6. Prof. Sanjay Mittal, Dean, Academic Affairs, IIT Kanpur

  7. Prof Partha Chakroborty Dean, Students Affairs, IIT Kanpur

  8. President, Alumni Association, IIT/K.

  9. Prof. Kripa Shankar, Secretary, Alumni Association, IIT/K.

 10. Adarsh Mishra, President, Student Gymkhana, IIT/K.

 11. Convener, Minimum Wage Monitoring committee, IIT/K.

 12. Convenor, Faculty Forum, IIT/K.