JNU’S canteens may give way to food courts

NEW DELHI: : Criticising campus canteens and dhabas for not maintaining cleanliness and hygiene, the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU’S) Executive Council on Tuesday decided to explore the possibility of replacing them with food courts. It also decided to close a reading room in the central library.

The students’ union has, however, hit out against the university’s highest decision making body against both moves.

“The executive council (EC) has decided to explore the feasibility of establishing food courts at suitable locations in the premises. This will facilitate students of JNU to have wide range of choice of food. It has also decided to take action against the existing canteens that neither follow rules nor cater to students’ demand for clean, hygienic and affordable food,” JNU registrar Pramod Kumar said in a statement.

The office bearers of the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) said that the administration was trying to “privatise” and “corporatise” public spaces at the university.

“JNU’S public spaces are places of academic engagement and have been built and cultivated over decades. Destruction of those spaces through closing down of existing dhabas for corporate takeover is nothing but a blatant move of privatisation that the JNU administration has started,” the JNUSU said in a statement.

While the EC said its decision to close a reading room in the central library was “to improve the fire safety measures”. The JNUSU, however, alleged that the decision is another “attack on the JNU’S culture”. “By closing down a reading room of library, and cutting down 80% of library budget, JNU administration is attacking and destroying what the culture of reading and learning at the campus,” the student union said.