Fee hike protest: PU students polish shoes

As the standoff between students and Panjab University authorities continued on the fee hike issue, a group of students owing allegiance to NSUI today held a protest by polishing shoes of fellow students and passersby to press their demand for rollback of the fee hike.
"We today tried another mode of protest against the fee hike. Students today polished shoes of other students, bystanders and passersby outside the PU Vice Chancellor's office," said Siya Minocha, PU student and member of National Students Union of India (NSUI).
"We wanted to attract the attention of PU authorities and Modi government on fee increase issue," she said adding, "We wanted PU authorities to listen to us on what we have to say. It has been several days, nobody from PU talked to us."

Members of NSUI have also been holding chain hunger strike against tuition fee hike, said Siya who contested Panjab University Campus Students' elections last year for the post of president.
Protesting students charged Rs 10 per pair of shoes for polish. "We charged Rs 10 per person during an hour long protest. If they (PU authorities) want our money then we can collect it in whatever manner we can," she said.
"We will continue to adopt new but peaceful methods of protest against fee hike if our demands are not met," she said.

Notably, on April 11, the protest against fee hike had turned violent at PU campus after protesting students clashed with police which had to use force which resulted in injuries on both sides.

Meanwhile, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal will hold a meeting with Panjab University Vice Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover on April 25 to discuss the issue pertaining to providing financial support.
Punjab cabinet minister Charanjit Singh Channi had arranged a meeting between Badal and the PU VC when he visited PU campus on April 21.
"We will tomorrow present the fiscal situation of the PU during a meeting with Punjab FM," PU Registrar Guljit Singh Chadha said.
Earlier, PU Vice Chancellor Grover had written to the Punjab government, seeking a meeting to apprise the government of the university's fiscal situation.
Few days back, Badal had assured to help the university but further said that any decision with regard to providing financial support to the varsity would be taken after the state government came out with a whitepaper on fiscal position of the state.

With PU being in a fiscal mess, the varsity has been getting Rs 20 crore per annum for the last several years after Punjab government froze its share to this amount even though it was supposed to bear 40 per cent of PU's deficit.
Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator V P Singh Badnore had asked PU to review all issues including fee hike in a holistic manner.
Students have been protesting against the "significant" hike in tuition fee announced by PU senate last month for the academic year 2017-18.
In some courses, the fee hike was steep. In case of B Pharma course, the fee was raised from Rs 5,080 to Rs 50,000 and in case of MA Journalism course, it was hiked from Rs 5,290 to Rs 30,000. For PU's dental course, the fee was increased from Rs 86,400 to Rs 1.50 lakh.

With students demanding rollback of fee increase, PU had justified the average 12.5 per cent hike while considering the financial condition of the university as it has anticipated a deficit of Rs 244 crore for the financial year 2017-18. It had also claimed that it has rationalised the fee structure.
Gasping for funds, PU has now demanded 12 per cent hike in funds from Punjab to meet the rising expenditure.
PU authorities will also hold a meeting with representatives of UGC on April 26 to resolve "incongruity with respect to expenditure and revenue plan submitted by PU and to arrive at a way forward regarding funding issue".