PAU girls’ protest get support from outside

Updated At : 06:21 AM Aug 14, 2015 IST

Students of the girls’ hostel at Punjab Agricultural University hold a protest over the issue of allotment of hostel rooms in Ludhiana. Tribune Photo: Himanshu mahajan

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 13

In the absence of any student union at the PAU, the intervention of local leaders of various student organisations from outside was apparent on the PAU campus where girls of undergraduate classes were protesting the new rule for the allotment of hostel rooms.

The local leaders of Student Organisation of India (SOI), which is the student wing of Shiromani Akali Dal; Students Democratic Federation (SDF) and activists of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) came on the campus and extended their support to the protesting girls.

Not only this, Meetpal Singh Dugri, zonal president of SOI, along with secretary Prabhjot Singh Dhaliwal led the students and entered the girls’ hostel as well.

Chief Hostel Warden at PAU Kiranjot Kaur Sidhu received them well at the office and amended the list as per the SOI leaders directed her.

According to information, Kiranjot told the girls that the hostel rooms would be allotted on merit, adding that the girls scoring good marks would get preference during the allotment of rooms.

A girl who was protesting said: “Girls have been sharing their rooms for the past two to three years and have a strong association with their roommates. They assumed that

their groups will be broken with the implementation of this rule.”

The girls sat on protest outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office around 12:15 pm and left the protest at 2: 20 pm after assurance from Dr Ravinder Kaur Dhaliwal, Director Student Welfare, Punjab Agricultural University.

When contacted, Chief Hostel Warden Kiranjot Kaur Sidhu said: “There was a miscommunication among students. The issue has been sorted now.”

She, however, refused to comment on the interference of SOI leaders.

Director Students Welfare Dr Ravinder Kaur Dhaliwal said: “I am always ready to listen to students’ issues. They sat on dharna before informing me. I met their representatives and listened to them. They misunderstood the instruction about the allotment of hostel rooms. I made things clear after which the girl students called off the protest.”

PAU girls’ protest get support from outside

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