SPPU students pause protest, wait for university to rectify

Ketki Shukla | Students of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) who had started protesting indefinitely against the fee hike and allotment of hostel rooms to the students of Postgraduate and PhD courses have currently paused their protest. As a meeting was conducted on Thursday regarding their demands, the students are waiting for the University to take action within the officially assured time.

The Vice-Chancellor, Registrar of SPPU and other prominent officials had a meeting with the students who were involved in the protest on Thursday at 10:30 pm. Few decisions were made as an outcome of the meeting.

To rethink the decision of rolling back the fee hike, a higher committee has been appointed and is expected to make a decision within the coming three weeks. This committee will also investigate the changes in previous fee hikes and recent fee hike numbers. The University has also started the process of allocating rooms to 350 students and said that it will also consider giving rooms on a guest basis.

"As per the students’ demand of taking legal action against the Director of the Board of Examinations, the process has begun and the matter has closely been looked into. The amount that is given as scholarships to students is directly credited to the respective University or College. If a related institution is found charging fees despite the scholarship amount, action will be taken against the same," one of the protesting students said.

These decisions and the steps that were taken by the University to fulfill the demands of the protesting students have relieved them for the moment. But the students also plan on a more intense protest if these demands and the assurances that are made officially are not fulfilled within 15 days given their written statement.