Presidency students protest, V-C confined to chamber
KOLKATA: A section of students at the Presidency University here continued their protest for the third day on Wednesday as vicechancellor Anuradha Lohia remained in her chamber overnight.
The students iterated they would not prevent the VC from leaving, but continue with their sit-in outside her chamber till their demands were met.
A university official said Lohia had returned to the main campus at 3 pm on Tuesday and was in her room ever since. After confined to her room by the agitating students for 16 hours since Monday, Lohia had made an exit through the side door of her chamber on Tuesday morning.
Over 100 protesting students were raising slogans outside the main door of the VC’S chamber.
Among others, the agitators were demanding that the repair works in three of the five wards of the 130-year-old Hindu Hostel be completed without any delay and eight sacked hostel employees be reinstated immediately.
The protesting students sat on the verandah outside the main door, raising slogans such as ‘Tai to Boli kaman dago,kaman dago/ VC-R ghare kaman dago,’ (Direct your volley of canon f i res towards VC’S room), ‘Ei VC, Registrar aar nei darkar’ (We don’t need such a VC, a Registrar any more).
One of the protestors, Subho Biswas said, “We will continue to sit outside the VC’S chamber till our demands are met.” The students also demanded that the VC express regret in writing over the issue of female students allegedly being prevented from taking part in a convention on the day of Saraswati Puja in the campus, due to the hostel renovation.
Another student, Debnil Paul, on Tuesday said they do not want to disrupt academic or administrative work of the varsity.
“We have met some of the faculty members and told them we are not at war with our teachers, and are hopeful they will communicate our stand to the higher authorities and act as the bridge,” he had said.
A university official said, the authorities were willing to talk to the students on any issue but normalcy should return first.