TMCP locks girls’ hostel at Alipurduar University

Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) initiated a movement at Alipurduar University, questioning why the interim vice-chancellor (V-C) of the university would occupy the hostel designated for female students.

The TMCP members protested by locking the gate of the women’s hostel, raising this concern after arriving at the university premises in a procession on Wednesday.

Sameer Ghosh, the district president of the organisation, was also present. The students once again demanded the return of interim V-C and said that a permanent V-C should be appointed and the hostel for female students should be activated as soon as possible.

Samir Ghosh said: “The interim vice-chancellor has no right to occupy the hostel. The students who are supposed to stay in the hostel are renting rooms for Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000 in different parts of the city. They have important exams ahead of them. Many students are from poor families. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did a drastic renovation of the student hostel six months ago. So why did the vice-chancellor go to live there without opening the hostel for girls? We want the hostels to be available as soon as possible.”

Interim vice-chancellor Rathin Banerjee, however, did not want to give importance to the students’ agitation and demands.

Banerjee said: “First of all, there is no question of occupying the hostel. I have been staying in small hotels or lodges in Alipurduar since the beginning. The university officers and some of the teachers asked me to use the hostel temporarily because the hostel work is not finished yet. It was empty. The civil work of the hostel was completed long ago. However, as the state government has not provided the funds, the electric and water works are still pending.

I am looking for a house to rent in Alipurduar and hope to find one in a week and move there. I will inform the chancellor about the whole incident.”