Students protest after hostel fees is doubled

Students of Lady Irwin College protested against the increase of hostel fee by the college authority. Students alleged that the hostel fee for a semester has been doubled this year.

Around 200 students under the banner of rightwing students’ organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad ( ABVP) staged a protest in the college campus.

The students alleged that they tried to give a memorandum to the college prin- cipal and hostel superintendent but they have not accepted it. The students then pasted the photocopy of memorandum outside the principal’s office.

Priya Khandelwal, a college student, said that the non- acceptance of memorandum by the college authorities is against the democratic right of students. “We will continue our protest till the college authority roll back the proposed hike,” she said.

She alleged that the college authorities called up their parents and threatened to suspend them for participating in the protest. “The college has increased the hostel fee from around ` 20,000 to around ` 42,000 per semester,” she said.

ABVP Delhi secretary Saket Bahuguna said that the 100 per cent increase in hostel fee is unfair and against students coming from middle- class families. “Colleges in Delhi University are increasing fees on their whims and fancy and the university is witnessing it as a mute spectator,” he added. He demanded that a uniform policy should be framed to decide fees.