PAU students to begin chain hunger strike from Tuesday

Ludhiana: The ongoing protest by students of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is going to resume from Tuesday (Sunday and Monday being holidays) with a chain hunger strike by five students, as out of the three main demands of students, only one has been accepted conditionally. While there is not going to be any rollback on the non-entry of four-wheelers by students in the campus, PAU has now issued another notice — following an advisory — of not allowing mobile phones in classrooms in order to maintain discipline. However, students stated their other demands concerning infrastructure and facilities have been heard by the authorities.
There is good news for girl students though, residing in hostels 11, 12, and 14. Ravinder Kaur Dhaliwal, directorate of students welfare (DSW) said: “Our main priority is to improve the hostels and their facilities. The guest room in hostels is being converted into a reading room, and any girl who wants to study in that room can sit there after 11pm as well. Furthermore, an attendant will be provided to open the respective blocks of those girls who are in the reading room after 11pm, and an entry register will be maintained for the reading room.”

Though the timings for the hostel will remain the same — 8pm in summers and 7pm in winters for girls — any girl who wants to go to the library for study after the scheduled time can have a permission form signed from their parents and respective advisors. “The permission can be for the entire semester, or any desired period of time,” added Dhaliwal.

Many other demands of the students have, however, been considered. A new mess committee is being formed for both mess no.1 and 2. To improve sanitation and cleanliness in the hostels, any girl found feeding dogs shall be fined accordingly. Water coolers will be repaired and placed on a higher level, so that dogs do not drink water from them, and geysers will be installed in the hostels within three to four months.