Seeking various facilities, a large number of students led by office-bearers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) took out a protest march and staged demonstrations in Hubballi and Dharwad on Friday.
In Dharwad, the students staged a demonstration in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner and demanded that the State Government take immediate steps to fulfil their demands in the wake of reopening of colleges.
They said, after almost 20 months, offline classes for students of class VI and above had begun, which was a good move. However, as classes were held at different timings for different batches, students, particularly those coming from rural areas, did not have proper bus facilities. These bus services were suspended during lockdown and had not been restored till date, they said.
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Considering the different timings, the state bus transport corporation should run buses for the benefit of students, they demanded. They also urged the government to expedite the process of disbursement of scholarship under ‘Vidyasiri’ scheme and sought a hike in scholarship to encourage students to pursue higher education.
Regarding hostel requirement, they said that as the existing hostels were sufficient to accommodate only 2.5 lakh students, the government should take steps to open new hostels. The Social Welfare Department should hire more buildings for hostels so that more students could be accommodated, they said. Later, the ABVP members submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to district authorities.
A similar agitation was held in Hubballi. Led by ABVP State organising secretary Prithvikumar, Somu Patil, Rakesh Kharjagi, and others, the students marched from JG College of Commerce to the KIMS entrance, where they staged a demonstration. However, when the ABVP members tried to block the road as part of their protest, the police objected to it, resulting in an altercation. The police managed to convince the protesters to disperse after a while.
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