TV
Tension gripped the Utkal University’s Vani Vihar campus as students staged a massive protest on Tuesday, gheraoing the Vice-Chancellor (VC) and demanding the eviction of unauthorised occupants from the university staff quarters and nearby slums.
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The agitation intensified after non-students were recently removed from hostels, leading students to press further for the adjacent slum areas to also be cleared.
Amid slogans and campus-wide mobilisation, some agitating students barged into the Vice-Chancellor’s chamber and demanded immediate action.
The Registrar also confirmed, discussions with Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) are underway to facilitate the eviction of slum dwellers residing near the varsity campus. Notices have already been issued, and authorities are reportedly in action mode.
With hostels already cleared of unauthorised persons, the students insist that safety and academic sanctity can only be restored if both the illegal occupants in quarters and the slum dwellers are evicted, the agitating students expressed.
The situation remains tense as authorities brace for the next phase of action.
“To vacate the staff quarters, which have been unlawfully occupied, we have to follow legal procedures. We will serve the occupants legal notice and ask them to voluntarily vacate the premises. We will take steps in case they do not vacate,” the Registrar said.
“But to do something without following suitable procedures and serving them legal notice would be inappropriate,” the Registrar asserted while speaking to mediapersons.
When asked why non-students alone were vacated from the hostels, Registrar Swati Mishra stated, “This is a historic step that has been initiated.”
Reported By: Swati Jena, Simpul
