The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur has decided to reduce mess establishment fees and overhead charges after students sought relief because of the financial toll the pandemic has taken.

The institute last year had waived the mess advance and water and electricity charges. Now, students are saying they are struggling to pay even the mess establishment fees and the institute’s overhead charges.

The students want the fees to be slashed by 25 per cent because of crippling financial conditions, an institute official said.

Aman Kumar, the acting general secretary of the outgoing students senate, said they had demanded that the mess establishment fees be reduced from Rs 500 to Rs 400 per month and the overhead charges from Rs 2,200 to Rs 1,500 per semester.

The students of the final year who are paying Rs 1,000 as the institute’s overhead charges, should be charged Rs 500, he said. “We want this fee reduction to be implemented from the semester that started in January... After the reduced fee structure is announced, the fees should be refunded to those who have already paid,” he told Metro.

IIEST director Parthasarthi Chakrabarti said: “We want to give students relief on fees. The proposal on reduction has been sent to the institute’s board of governors for approval.”

An official of the institute said the approval by the board was a formality.