Two teachers pedal 130 km for Panjab varsity Senate poll push

In a unique initiative to raising awareness over the delay in conducting Panjab University’s Senate elections and to support students protesting under the banner of ‘Panjab University Bachao Morcha’, two teachers from PU-affiliated college in Mullanpur Dakha of Ludhiana district rode bicycles to reach the protest site outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office on the campus.

Dr Jaswinder Singh and Dr Harjit Singh Dhaliwal, both wearing t-shirts emblazoned with ‘Save Senate’ and ‘Save PU’ slogans, covered a distance of 130 km to reach PU on Friday.

“We like cycling and what better cause than to use our passion to raise awareness against the delayed elections to a democratically elected body. We demand immediate election to the Senate and quashing of FIR registered against 14 students,” Dr Dhaliwal said.

Both teachers were joined by former Senators and the protesting students outside the VC’s office. They cycled back to Ludhiana today.

Appreciating the efforts of the duo, former PU Senate Fellow Ravinder Dhaliwal said this depicted that the Senate issue did not concern PU only, but over 200 colleges affiliated to it across Punjab and the UT. “We are thankful of them for taking the pain for this cause. The authorities should heed to our demand,” he added. The tenure of Senate, the 91-member governing body of PU, ended on October 31 and elections to it have not been notified.