The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) on Monday organised a protest march from the campus to the Vasant Kunj police ptation where they symbolically filed a ‘missing person report’ as they alleged that the JNU Vice-Chancellor had been “missing” in action and was not addressing their concerns.
The students have been protesting the draft hostel manual that proposes a hike in the hostel fee.
The students alleged that the university had deployed Central Reserve Police Force personnel on campus on learning about the protest march. They condemned the administration for sensationalising their protest, “which was against an issue that was important for every student that stayed on campus”.
Despite repeated attempts, the university administration did not respond to allegations that paramilitary personnel had entered the campus.
The university, however, called for a meeting of provosts and hostel presidents to discuss issues that the students have been facing.
“It is due to the student community’s continuing efforts that a meeting of provosts has been called with all the hostel presidents, ostensibly to discuss the fee hike. The administration is clearly running scared of students. We invite the administration not to fear but address the issues at hand and revoke the unacceptable Hostel Manual Draft and fee hike,” the JNUSU stated.
The students’ union said that the hiked fee would force several students currently studying at the university to drop out as they would not be in a position to pay the fee.
Responding to the protests, JNU V-C released a statement to the press, which read: “The provosts have invited the hostel presidents for a meeting on November 6. We request the hostel presidents to meet their provosts along with the wardens and discuss their issues. We appeal to the students to resume their academic activities. Issues can be resolved through dialogue with the officials of Inter Hall Administration.”
