Chandigarh: Consensus on hostel diet, platter to cost Rs 41

Chandigarh, July 15

After two rounds of talks between the Dean, Students’ Welfare (DSW), and student organisations, the rate for hostel mess diet has been reduced to Rs 41 and that of special diet to Rs 47.

Earlier, the university had hiked the price of normal diet from Rs 39 to Rs 46.25 and that of special diet from Rs 44 to 51. Before this, the prices were reportedly changed in 2021.

The student organisations had staged a protest against the hike on Thursday, after which the Dean had scheduled a meeting on Friday. That meeting remained inconclusive.

“This is a positive outcome. No changes will be made with regard to the number of dishes or the quality of food. The majority of the students agreed to our points and we reached a common ground,” said Professor Amit Chauhan, DSW. He added the mess contractors would be asked to ensure the quality of food. The new rates will be made applicable from Tuesday.

After student organisations launched a protest, the DSW had asked the mess contractors to charge old prices till a final decision was taken.

“While it took two rounds of meeting to reach a consensus, we are happy over the result. We wanted the best for our fellow students and we succeeded in it, with the support of other student organisations,” said Amarpal Toor, NSUI leader, who was present in the meeting.

Terming the decision as “anti-student”, SFS president Sandeep said, “We oppose the decision and we will launch protests against this in near future. In times of inflation and low wages, this is an attack on students’ welfare.”