December 29, 2020.
TED NewsDesk, Gorakhpur: Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University face a lot of flak from its students after it posted a notice ordering students to vacate the university hostels due to the Coronavirus pandemic. A huge student body of the university gathered outside the house of the Vice-Chancellor to protest the decision. After being pressurised by the student protests, the university administration proceeded to take down the notice. In addition, the administration said, “all bonafide students will be allowed” to keep living in the hostels until the formation of a five-member committee to deal with the problem.
The five-member committee is lead by Professor Nandita Singh of the Arts Department, who has started their operations. A meeting took place on Sunday to discuss the course of action, following which the members of the committee will consult the students sitting in protest in the presence of their wardens. The committee then will submit their suggestions to the university administration.
A separate 11-member committee has been formed to listen to the grievances of the students living in the hostels. The committee will also work to identify those students who are living without permission in the hostels and take appropriate action against them.
It is a critical time for the students, who have to attend their classes as well as prepare for competitive exams. One of the students said, “We should not be vacated from our hostels. Students from several states, including Uttarakhand and Kashmir, stay here. If they go back to their houses, they will have to take several transport options, which will expose them to health hazards.”
The students stopped the protest that commenced on Saturday and went on till 2in the morning on Sunday. The protest only stopped when the university authorities decided to put down the controversial notice.
One of the university administration officials said, “The administration has decided that those who are genuine occupants will not have to vacate the hostels. At present, only postgraduate and research classes are on as per government guidelines. We have to sanitise all the hostels. So, our plan is to shift the students to another wing and sanitise their rooms. Earlier, we had thought that we would vacate the hostels during the winter vacation to sanitise all the rooms. But the students had objected to that.”
The university hostels had the permission to remain open after the lockdown was lifted by the state government on the condition that there will be only one student occupying one room.
The university administration should take care of the problem soon since it will affect the classes and exams of the students living in the hostels.
Source: The Indian Express