Members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), protested at the College of Vocational Studies, on Saturday, after five students were injured when the false ceiling of a classroom collapsed.
Recently constructed
On Friday morning, during an ongoing lecture, the false ceiling of classroom number 107 of the new block came crumbling down on students. The Hindi class for Human Resource Management was going on at the time of the incident.
Sources said the new academic block had been constructed only last year, at a cost of ₹5.4 crore.
ABVP members protested, demanding better infrastructure and inspection of the same.
‘Authorities in denial’
Alleging ‘dubious business’, Manish Barthwal, District Organising Secretary of ABVP said, “When we reached the spot today, what we saw shocked us. The damaged ceiling had been repaired overnight and the authorities were in denial that the accident had taken place.”
Alleging negligence on the part of the administration, Mr. Barthwal said, “No action has been taken yet against those involved in the inferior quality construction in the college. We have also demanded for a fitness test of the rooms before classes can be held there again.”
They have also asked the college to compensate the injured students. “There was not even a nurse present in the college to provide first aid to the students. The least the college can do is provide compensation to the injured.”
Principal refutes claims
Inderjit Dagar, principal of CVS said, “The false ceiling was not a permanent one. It just had a few sheets of thermocol on it which can fall off due to wind. It is absurd to think students can be gravely injured because of a thermocol sheet. More importantly, not a single student has come to me with a complaint.”
Refuting claims of a “protest by ABVP”, he said, “There were a handful of outsiders today. It cannot even be called a protest. They handed me some letter, which was not even signed, calling it a memo.”
