New Delhi:
Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Wednesday protested outside the University Grants Commission (UGC) headquarters in Delhi over the nearly 300 per cent hike in hostel fees of the Varsity. The protests have intesified over the last few days, prompting the university administration to shift a meeting of the Executive Council outside the campus in fear of disruption by agitating students.
Students, who protested outside the UGC office, were mostly from RSS student wing ABVP. The students from Left-backed political outfits have been protesting against the hike in hostel fees for almost a fortnight.
The students have been demanding rollback of the draft hostel manual, in which one-time mess security fee has been hiked from Rs 5,500 to Rs 12,000. The draft hostel manual has also included additional service charge of Rs 17,00.
The University has also hiked the rent for a single-seater room from Rs 20 per month to Rs 600 per month, while the same for a double seater room has been increased from Rs 10 to Rs 300 per month.
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The students' union claims the draft hostel manual, approved by the Inter-Hall administration, has provisions for hostel fee hike, dress code and curfew timings. On Wednesday, the students shifted their protests to the administration block, which houses the vice chancellor's office and the office of other senior administration officials. Earlier they had gathered outside the convention centre on the campus.
Beating their daflis, they shouted slogans against the JNU administration and the vice chancellor. The JNU Teachers Association, representatives of which attend the EC meeting, alleged they were not informed about the change in the venue to the office of the Association of Indian Universities near ITO.
