Seeking bus service, Presidency female students gherao varsity official for over 55 hrs

Female students at Presidency University in Kolkata are staging a 55-hour demonstration demanding the reintroduction of a bus service between the girls' hostel in Salt Lake and the campus in College Street. The service was discontinued after the pandemic. The hostel's development officer, under gherao, was taken to the hospital for physical discomfort. The students demand four buses and a monthly transportation fee below Rs 500. The protest is apolitical, with over 50 boarders participating. University officials are in talks with students but no progress has been made. The previous bus service was subsidized, but the university can afford one bus.

A section of female students of Presidency University in Kolkata are staging a demonstration while gheraoing the dean on the campus for over 55 hours, demanding introduction of bus service between girls' hostel and the varsity campus.

The female students are demanding the reintroduction of bus service for boarders, which had been provided till 2019 but was discontinued after the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday evening, the development officer of the hostel, who was inside the room of the dean of hostels and under gherao by the agitating students, complained of physical discomfiture and was rushed to hospital.

He was allowed to leave for home ''on humanitarian grounds,'' by the agitating students but the dean would be under gherao till the demand for introduction of four buses was met, one of the agitating borders Arunima Nayak told PTI on Saturday evening.

This is a fight by all female boarders and is apolitical, Nayak said.

She said talks are going on with the university but no headway was made yet.

Their demands include keeping the monthly transportation fee within Rs 500.

The agitating students had blocked a road near the campus on March 15 at noon for some time. Currently, over 50 boarders have been staging the sit-in protest outside the office of the dean of hostels.

University officials said the previous bus service was arranged by the state transport department under subsidy, and one bus can be arranged by the cash-starved university authority.

The hostel for girls is located in Salt Lake, while the varsity campus is located at College Street, around 10 km away.

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