Several colleges remained closed in Hubballi-Dharwad and other places of Dharwad, Haveri and Gadag districts on Saturday in response to the call for Statewide ‘School College Bandh’ to press for free bus passes to students.
All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO), All India Democratic Youth Organisation (AIDYO), and All India Mahila Samskrutika Sanghatane (AIMSS) had given the call. Students Federation of India (SFI) and some other student organisations had also extended support to the bandh call.
While some colleges remained closed, most of the schools functioned normally. As it was half-day school on Saturday, in some places schoolchildren took part in the agitation after school hours.
In Hubballi a huge protest march was taken out by hundreds of students, particularly girl students from different colleges. The protest march which started from different colleges in the area passed through the thoroughfares of the city including Kittur Chennamma Circle before reaching Mini Vidhanasoudha.
Raising slogans against the State government which had failed to keep its promise of issuing free bus passes, the students demanded immediate fulfilment of their demand.
Addressing the protesting students, office-bearers of the organisations said that the new coalition government had said that all the programmes and announcements made by the previous government in the last budget would be continued. However in the recent budget presented by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, there was no announcement on the free bus pass and subsequently also there had been no clear decision on the issue, they said. They also alleged that by going back on its promise, the government had cheated the students, particularly those from rural areas who were finding it difficult to continue studies due to escalating prices.
The protesting students then submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to the Hubballi Tahsildar demanding immediate announcement on free bus pass and also reimburse the amount already paid by the students to get the bus passes.
A similar protest march was taken out in Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and other places.
Our Belagavi Special Correspondent reports:
AIDYO and other organisations took out a rally seeking free bus passes for all school and college students in Belagavi on Saturday. They protested against the State government for having gone back on its promise. The protesters walked from Sambhaji Circle at Bogarves to Rani Channamma Circle and listened to speeches by their leaders.
The speakers said that the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah had assured them that free bus passes will be given to all students and not just SC/STs or other category of students who are beneficiaries of some welfare schemes. However, afer the change in the government, this assurance was not acted upon.
Mahantesh Biloor, secretary, AIDYO, said the coalition government was duty bound to implement the decision as the State government was a permanent entity that had to honour its commitments. “The government has enough money to spend on welfare schemes. It should be spent on schemes that truly help the society. It is wrong to say there is not enough money in the exchequer. The latest CAG report has pointed out at an unspent amount of ₹ 13,000 crore. Providing bus passes for all students costs far less. This has to be taken up on priority.”
