Presidency University students block road demanding better facility at 'dilapidated' hostel

Students of the Presidency University here on Thursday night blocked the city's arterial M G Road-College Street crossing to press for the demand of quick renovation of three dilapidated wards of the varsity's Hindu hostel.

One of the agitating students, Debabrata, said the blockade was also against the "autocratic dismissal" of eight casual staff of the hostel by the authorities as they had also supported the students' complaint about overcrowding in two wards of the hostel, which instead accommodate inmates of five wards, and lack of basic amenities in the hostel.

The blockade started at around 8 pm and continued even after midnight, police said, adding that the students sat on a part of the crossing which was cordoned off and vehicles moved along the rest of the stretch.

The students, numbering around 30, held placards, shouted 'azaadi' slogans and demanded that Vice Chancellor Anuradha Lohia meet them.

The VC had earlier been gheraoed by the students for two days in the first week of February and didn't visit the main campus at College Street ever since.