Cops greet univ students

VADODARA, June 29: Police outnumbered students on the M S University campus on the first day of the new academic session on Monday, when stu...

VADODARA, June 29: Police outnumbered students on the M S University campus on the first day of the new academic session on Monday, when students’ unions of various problems came together to call a strike over the developmental fees issue. No classes were held today.

B S Patel, Dean of the Commerce Faculty, which, as the most violence-prone, had the maximum police presence, said security had been sought in the wake of a rumour that students would force the teaching staff to close down the faculty.

Apart from form-distribution at various faculties, no other administrative work was done on Monday. Though union leaders had initially decided to allow the authorities to go ahead with distribution of forms out of consideration for students who came from faraway places, they subsequently disrupted the process at the Faculty of Arts. Students had earlier submitted memoranda to Vice-Chancellor Padma Ramachandran and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Dipak Kumar De seeking a justification for developmental fees. They claimed that the amount would be too much for certain students and insisted that it should not be compulsory.

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Union leaders said that though the fee was being levied apparently for the students’ welfare, the authorities were reluctant to state on what the money would be spent. A representative of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology said that though the authorities had promised to replace the laboratory equipment after hiking the form prices, there was still no sign of the promise materialising.

Pointing out that several of the students’ basic needs, including water-coolers and the like, were yet to be met, the union members said if the authorities agreed to fulfill them, the stir would be called off.