JNV Jhansi students protest over food, water; mess in-charge removed from duty

Students of the Navodaya Vidyalaya here have protested alleging lack of basic facilities and poor quality food, prompting the district administration to remove the mess in-charge from his duty.

The protest on the campus of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Barua Sagar, started Thursday evening.

District Magistrate Shiv Sahay Awasthi visited the government-run school on Friday and assured the protesting students that their grievances would be addressed. The students withdrew the protest after a meeting with the DM.

A district administration official said the DM has constituted a committee under the chief development officer to look into the matter and file a report within a week.

The school administration, meanwhile, said the students sat on the dharna after their request to hire a DJ player during a festival was turned down.

In a video posted on social media, one of the protesting students claimed they were given contaminated food leading to 15 of them falling ill recently.

He also claimed that the campus lacked basic facilities such as water and electricity and that there were not enough teachers.

"We are mentally tortured and words like 'criminals' are used for us," the student said.