Agitating Presidency University students take out rally

A section of students of Presidency University, agitating for immediate accommodation to the under-renovation Hindu Hostel, on Wednesday took out a rally in the city in support of their demands.

Around 200 students, carrying a placard which read 'We Want Hindu Hostel', took out the rally from the College street campus to Rani Rashmoni Avenue in the heart of the city, and pledged to continue their stir till the demands were met.

The students, belonging to Independent Consolidation, Students Federation of India and others not belonging to any political outfit, chanted slogans during the procession, which was also joined by Jadavpur University Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra and Bengali poet Mandakranta Sen.

Mahapatra and Sen pledged support to the agitating students and said the Presidency authorities should not deprive them from staying at the Hindu Hostel.

A three-member delegation of students went to Raj Bhavan to meet Governor K N Tripathi and hand over a deputation for resolving the issue, but he was not present at that time.

"We will decide the next course of action at the General Body meeting but there is no way we will retreat from our demand for immediate accommodation in two blocks of Hindu Hostel, as these have already been completed," Ujaan, one of the agitating students, said.

Around 50 boarders were staying in the Presidency campus for 45 days, demanding accommodation in the hostel. The students had bolted the main gate of the varsity on September 10, not allowing Vice Chancellor Anuradha Lohia and other officials to enter.

The students' action had forced the authorities to shift the convocation venue from the campus to the state-run Nandan auditorium on September 11.

Lohia had earlier expressed inability to give in to the students' demand, citing safety guidelines laid down by the PWD, entrusted with the job of renovating the hostel.

She said in August that it will take at least five months to complete the renovation work of the hostel, after which the PWD can formally declare it fit for use.

Lohia had said the students can, in the meantime, stay at the premises rented by the Presidency authorities at New Town, from where conveyance has been arranged.