Amid ongoing student protests against the fee increase, Allahabad University Vice-Chancellor Sangita Srivastava on Wednesday said her complaint was “misguided” and vowed to waive the entire fee for those from poor backgrounds who are orphaned during Covid .
The students are protesting an alleged 400-fold increase in fees at the university. A student protesting the fee increase also tried to set himself on fire on Monday, but the act was foiled by local police.
Srivastava’s message, shared on the university’s official Twitter handle, said the annual fee per student has been Rs 975 for the past few decades, equivalent to Rs 81 per month.
The university fee has been increased to Rs 4,151 a year – Rs 333 a month, she said. The process has gone through rigorous deliberation and decision-making at multiple levels — the Finance Committee, the Academic Council and the Executive Council — the message said. “What is being circulated is that there is a 400x increase, which is incorrect. The 30-40 students who chose to disrupt the campus through falsehood are trying to ruin the academic environment of the University of Allahabad. The students’ complaint is misguided,” the message said. It continued: “To those who are so poor and have been orphaned in Covid, I give my word, the university will waive their entire fee.” Some protesting students claimed that the county administration was threatening to bulldoze their houses to end their agitation.
Akhilesh Yadav, vice-president of the university’s student union, told reporters, “The district administration is threatening to demolish (our) houses by sending a team from the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) to shut down the movement.” Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha leader Ajay Yadav Samrat said: “Today is the 16th day of agitation against the fee increase. The university management constantly threatens to annul our degrees. “At the same time, a PDA team will be sent to the students’ homes and family members will be asked to call back the protesting students, otherwise our homes will be demolished.” that they will be sent to prison under the Gangster Act. Hurt by these things, I and four other comrades who are leading this movement will be on hunger strike from today.” PTI RAJ CDN TDS TDS TDS
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
