CVS fest: Amid protests, principal assures help
After the long pandemic pause, Delhi University (DU) students recently resumed revelling in the merriment of fests. But, such may not be the case at the College of Vocational Studies (CVS). Its students claim their cultural fest was cancelled by the college authorities merely days before the decided dates — February 15 to 17.
Student members of the cultural council allege that the college’s Purchase Committee refused to accept the financial and technical tenders floated on February 5. In a meeting convened later on the opening of tenders, the committee said the tender is invalid. Irked by this, hundreds of students barged into the residential colony of committee convener Ajay Tyagi, on Saturday.
“Why would I want to cancel the fest?” says Tyagi, stating, “The procedure for procuring the tender was not followed. So, we asked for a clarification. We have not cancelled the tender. I don’t understand why 100-200 students came to my house, along with the cultural head, in a very irresponsible manner. If someone comes to attack me like this, I’ll have to submit my resignation.”
Students, on their part, say they were compelled to take matters in their own hands as they were running out of time. “The college needs to release ₹19 lakh for the fest expenses and arrangements,” says Deergha Sachdeva, president of the student cultural council of CVS, adding, “We’ve already taken around ₹5-6 lakh from our sponsors and spent it on preparations. Now, the college authorities want to cancel the fest less than five days before it was scheduled to take place! What do we do, if not protest?”
‘THE FEST WILL HAPPEN’
“Fest cancel hone ka sawal hi nahin hai,” Inder Jeet Dagar, principal of CVS, tells us. He adds, “Students ke tender mein technical errors hain jiski wajah se abhi pass nahin ho pa raha hai. These are public funds, they cannot be released if rules are not followed. The committee, students and I will meet today and discuss what can be done. We might have to postpone the fest... It’ll happen, we just don’t know when.”