Protesting students demand reopening of hostels closed since the lockdown
Protesting students demand reopening of hostels closed since the lockdown
Visva Bharati registrar Ashish Agarwal left his office on the Santiniketan University campus after 84 hours in the presence of policemen as a section of students also continued their protest in the campus For more than 96 hours demanding the reopening of hostels that have been closed since the lockdown.
The Calcutta High Court asked the police to ensure that the registrar, or the registrar of the central university, from freely moving freely in Santiniketan by the students, kept its office late on Thursday night. left.
The local police station personnel left the premises after the registrar went to his official residence and only Visva Bharati security personnel, who regularly guard the gates and are in charge of security, were present as usual, the official said.
The SFI leader in the university, Somnath So, said the students had urged the registrar to leave the office on Tuesday morning itself, when the students started their sit-in, but he refused and remained in his room.
He said the students vacated their office and camped outside on the lawn.
“Unless our friends get a place to stay in the hostel, how can we go? Since the university is not responsive to our needs, we prefer to stay in the open inside the campus. We do not have any law and order situation. Not building. It’s our right. Campus as students.” Mr So told PTI.
He said that the students’ dharna would continue on March 1 at around 11 am, first inside the registrar’s room in the central office building and then outside the main building in the open lawn from the next day. Indefinitely till the hostel opens.
Asked whether continuing the dharna inside the campus was in violation of the High Court order, Mr. So said, “We are not obstructing any official. We are not obstructing academic activities. We are staying in the open.” As the University has not been able to open any hostel out of the 15 hostels that were closed since March 16, 2020. The State and the Center have already given permission to the concerned college and university authorities to open the hostels by taking due precautions.’
He asked, “Why shouldn’t Visva Bharati be accountable to the needs of students from outside? When offline classes are already going on, hostels are facing difficulties in reopening.”
The students have also demanded that the upcoming semester examinations be conducted online mode at undergraduate and postgraduate level as classes were being conducted online for the last two years.
The university official said the executive council would consider the issues on an urgent basis and take appropriate decisions.