Presidency University students who had been staying on the campus since February 16 to protest the university’s decision to not immediately reopen Eden Hindu Hostel forced their way into the hostel on Wednesday evening.
The students assembled in front of the hostel on PC Sorcar Street in north Kolkata around 6.30pm and asked the guard to unlock the gate. “After the guard opened the gate, the students forced their way in and entered hostel rooms,” said Aryan Agrahari, a postgraduate student from Purulia district.
The students had so far been sleeping on the floor beneath the staircase of the main building of the university that has the offices of the vice-chancellor and other officials.
The students decided to enter the hostel five days after the dean of students posted a notice on the university’s website that said the VC was considering the health safety issues carefully in order to open the hostel. Presidency requires teachers as superintendent and assistant superintendent for Eden Hindu Hostel and the girls’ hostel in Salt Lake.
The applications have to be sent by March 31.
Anamitra Das, a student from Malda district, said the authorities should have completed the formalities well in advance.
“On the 25th day of the agitation, the authorities woke up and decided to start the recruitment process. Offline classes started on February 7. But they were not bothered despite the fact that students from the districts won’t be able to attend classes in the absence of hostel accommodation. Since they don’t intend to open the hostel, we had to take the step,” said Anamitra.
Repeated calls to VC Anuradha Lohia went unanswered.
The teachers who functioned as superintendents and assistant superintendents had quit in January 2020, an official said.
“We tried to convey our position to the students, but they did not relent.”
