Hopeful of early solution in Presidency varsity impasse: Guv

West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi today said he was hopeful of an "early solution" to the Presidency University impasse over hostel allotment as the state education department and Vice-Chancellor Anuradha Lohia are "looking into the matter".

Over 50 students of the university launched an indefinite-sit last Friday to protest against the delay in completion of renovation work at Eden Hindu hostel, adjacent to the institute campus.

The agitators have demanded that they be allotted rooms in two blocks of the heritage hostel, where the repair work was nearing completion.

The authorities, however, said it will take another four to five months to make the hostel "habitable and safe for the students".

"The issue is being looked into by the Higher Education department and the VC. I hope they will be able to solve the matter soon," Tripathi told reporters on the sidelines of a programme in the city.

VC Lohia had met the protesting students on two occasions in the past one week, requesting them to withdraw the sit-in. She also said that the agitation was affecting the normal functioning of the university.

A spokesperson of the agitators, when informed about the governor's comments, asserted that the protest would continue till their demands were met.

"The VC had promised to complete the renovation work and throw open the hostel for the outstation students by August, but that did not happen. The students can't be wasting more money and time to commute to the university in the central part of the city from a rented accommodation at New Town(around 16km away)," he added.