The fourth round of talks between the agitating FTII students and Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials to resolve the standoff over appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the institute failed to break the deadlock. Both parties have agreed to take the dialogue to the ministerial level.
The table of talks will now shift to New Delhi, where the students will meet Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. The meeting is scheduled for either October 13 or 14.
A delegation of students held their fourth meeting with the senior officials of the I&B, led by Secretary Sunil Arora. This time too, the talks remained inconclusive. Vikas Urs, a representative of the FTII students, said after the meeting: “We briefed the secretary on the appointments we consider problematic. We put forward our concerns and possible solutions were proposed. The Secretary tried to understand our viewpoints and promised us a meeting with Mr. Rathore.”
The students also made a specific demand that the Secretary of the I&B function as an acting chairman of the Society till the deadlock breaks.
The two sides agreed to meet after the students ended a 17-day relay hunger strike in their campus in Pune.
