Beas tragedy: Cops deployed as tension grips VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute

Hyderabad: With hardly a few days to go for reopening of the college, the VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute campus at Bachupalli will never be the same again. The Beas waters, which swept away 24 of its students, has overturned the college's fortunes. A campus that bustled with student activities, is now tense as around a dozen paramilitary and APSP men are camping there to avoid any trouble from the parents of affected students.

Many people who were active in the annual Convergence fest and Cultural fest of the college are no more. Students say that three important students, K. Kiran Kumar, B. Ritwik Rao and K. Sree Harsha, who are still missing in the river, where the heart and soul of the Convergence fest that takes place in the month of October.

“Three of them were working hard for the fest in the last two years. They were active members of the students' chapters that conduct the fest,” said Purna Shekhar, one of the mishap survivors, adding that the trio was quite talented. In the convergence fest, there would be a number of exhibitions and related programs to exhibit the innovations by students, he said.

Laxmi Gayatri, whose body was fished out from the river on the second day of mishap, was a known classical singer and a participant at the cultural fest. “She was an excellent singer and a member of the music club of the college. Our fest will not be the same again without her,” said a student of VNR.

Though an announcement is yet to come, the college is likely to reopen soon for the examination of first year students. For oth-er batches, the reopening date is July 7. Meanwhile, many students fear that the blame on the college for the Beas tragedy would affect their future. Whenever they are asked about this the students become extremely defensive about the role of the management in the mishap. “We fear that if the college’s name is ruined, our future would be damaged,” said a student who sought anonymity.