New Delhi: Amid continued protests from students to reopen the Central Library at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the administration has now delayed any plans of reopening the BR Ambedkar library citing the pandemic despite having days ago said that they are in the process of allowing students back in. The varsity administration had blinked after continued protests from students, who said that the online infrastructure set up to access the resources of this library was not functional and so the library must be reopened to allow physical entry of students.
Talking about the opening of the library, the university had said, "After due deliberations, keeping in line with government orders and the academic interests of the student community, the university administration has decided to take appropriate steps to open the Dr BR Ambedkar Central Library soon."
"This will comply with the expected announcement of the government regarding further unlocking measures in Delhi," it had said.
However, now the university administration has said, "Due to the prevailing situation of COVID-19 and curfew announced by the Delhi government, the Dr BR Ambedkar Central Library will remain closed till further orders," the university said on Sunday.
The protests for reopening the library had escalated earlier this month when a few students allegedly broke into the premises and occupied it. The agitation had resulted in a scuffle between students and the university's security personnel, following which the varsity was unable to convince the students from leaving the library for days.
But the university administration had already filed a police complaint against the students for allegedly "vandalising" the library. The university administration had alleged that a few students broke into the library and scuffled with security guards, following which they "occupied" the Dr BR Ambedkar Central library.