Students protest move to ‘shut’ tech university
Nikhila Pant Dhawan
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, April 17
Students of first and second year studying at the Giani Zail Singh Campus College of Engineering and Technology today staged a protest and blocked the Bathinda-Dabwali road over the report of possibility of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University (MRSPTU) being closed and its colleges being transferred back to IK Gujral Punjab Technical University.
Notably, Minister for Technical Education and Industrial Training Charanjit Singh Channi had recently said there was no need for Punjab to have two technical universities and that he was preparing a detailed report regarding it and would present it to the Chief Minister.
A delegation of the MRSPTU management had met Finance Minister and Bathinda MLA Manpreet Singh Badal over the issue. During the meeting, the minister assured them that he would express “his views when the issue comes up at the Cabinet meeting.”
Expressing apprehension about their future, the students of first and second year said they were admitted to the MRSPTU but if the university was shut, their degrees would bear the PTU’s name.
After the police reached the protest site, it urged the students to lift the road blockade. Later, talks were initiated between the university management and protesting students. The blockade was then lifted by the students.
