Students of Nrupatunga Hostel who demanded quality food were attacked by some students who were drunk and allegedly provoked by the university authorities outside the Vice-Chancellor’s official residence on the campus here late on Wednesday evening.
As per sources, casual labour employed as cooks in various hostels on the campus went on strike on Wednesday demanding that the authorities pay them wages pending for the last one year. The strike disrupted the routine hostel activities as no food was prepared for the night.
N.G. Kannur, physical education professor and warden of the hostel, then supplied dinner coupons and asked the students to have their food in the university canteen for the night.
The students, however, complained that the food at the canteen was of poor quality and unfit to be consumed. They promptly called the Mr. Kannur and brought the issue to his notice.
“The warden said in an angry voice that nothing else was available and asked us to eat what was serve or go without food,” a student who wished to remain unidentified told The Hindu .
The students then went to the official residence of the Vice-Chancellor who was not available at the time. However, Registrar Dayanand Asagar and Mr. Kannur, along with a couple of their students, arrived and picked up an argument with the agitating students.
“Both the Registrar and the warden scolded us. They insulted us saying that we were consuming free food and making unnecessary trouble on the campus. When the heated exchange of words between students and authorities was on, one of the students who arrived with the registrar and warden and who was drunk attacked the agitating students and injured Prithviraj, a research scholar. We soon took him to hospital. It is strange that neither the Registrar nor the warden uttered a word when their student was attacking us in their presence,” another student said.
The students then approached the university police station and lodged a complaint. On Thursday morning, they staged a protest outside the administrative complex of the university and demanded action against the assailant as well as the Registrar and the warden.
S.R. Niranjan, Vice-Chancellor, assured the students of putting an end to such incidents. With the Registrar and the warden tendering apology, the students withdrew the protest as well as their complaint from the police station.
