Varsity students, staff continue stir over grant

Patiala, March 16

Students and faculty members at Punjabi University today held a protest march, demanding an assurance of grants for the cash-strapped institute. The state government had recently assured the university a yearly grants of Rs 360 crore, but the students and faculty members staged a protest and sought a written documentation of the same. They also demanded the university’s bank loan of Rs 150 crore be waived.

The students, faculty members and non-teaching employees carried out the protest march on the campus from 11 am to 12.30 pm under the banner of Punjabi University Bachao Morcha. The protest halted the lectures at various departments as student volunteers went around asking others to join in the protest.

The students have been holding protests since Monday after the Budget was released last week.

Sandeep Kaur, a student, said, “Students as well as employees gathered in protest against the state government. We held a march on the campus to register our demands.”

Meanwhile, the student wing of the BJP, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), led by state organising secretary Saurabh Kapoor, held a discussion on the university’s fiscal crises. Kapoor said the ABVP supported the students’ demands.