Pune: The students of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) are up in arms against the varsity administration for an unprecedented fee hike as various student organisations have joined hands to press for the demand.
The student organisations including SFI, Yukrant, NCP, NSUI, Vidyapith Vidyarthi Sangharsha Kruti Samiti began their protest demonstration on October 11 seeking rollback of the fee hike orders as per the circular 2019 and threatened to continue it if their demands are not fulfilled.
In July, a PhD candidate of the university said, when the fee hike was conveyed to students, protests were witnessed in the varsity following which the university assured students that the circular will be withdrawn. However, nothing sort of happened on the ground, he said.
The students were charged 5,000 for the credit course exams and after the protests, the administration withdrew the order and four 4050 rupees were refunded to students' accounts.
“For the same process, we again had to submit the forms and then the fee was credited to us,” said another scholar.
At the same time, the scholar said, all the student unions were informed that no protests must occur inside the varsity and officials will regularly be in touch so that any issue related to the university and students could be resolved easily.
“But the so-called assurances turned false and the students were ignored again,” he said, adding, “the repeated fake promises have now led the student organisations to join hands and protest the varsity’s what they termed ‘dictatorial’ orders.
Another student who faced issues with lodging at the university said he was not provided the hostel despite the fact that the rooms are empty. The space has an intake capacity of sixty students, but only 10 to 15 students are being provided the rooms, he claimed.
I am a PhD student and I'm being denied the room time and again for the reason best known to them, he added.
"We have stopped the protest for time being, however; protests in this regard will continue if concrete steps are not taken by the university administration," the students claimed.
Meanwhile, when Free Press Journal tried to contact university officials for their version, Public Relations Officer, SPPU, Prafulla Pawar denied commenting on the issue. “I don't want to comment on it”, he said.
