Commuters face harrowing time as Presidency students block road in demand of Hindu Hostel

Kolkata: Daily commuters and locals faced immense trouble after students of Presidency University put up a road blockade at College Street crossing from Thursday afternoon till Friday afternoon, demanding complete renovation of Hindu Hostel immediately along with a few other issues.

Despite repeated requests by the police, daily commuters and locals, the students had refused to withdraw the blockade. However, on Friday afternoon, they withdrew the blockade following a day-long altercation with locals and daily commuters.

State Education minister Partha Chatterjee said: "I am shocked. If their demands are justified I am ready to speak with the Vice-Chancellor. We do not support such obstruction that disrupts normal services. I believe grievances can be sorted out at the discussion table."

According to sources, the students had been protesting on several issues since the past two weeks inside the Presidency University campus. On Thursday at around 5 pm, they put up a road blockade at the crossing of M G Road and Bidhan Sarani. As a result, the traffic movement got choked.

Due to this, daily commuters faced tremendous harassment while reaching their destinations. Several ambulances also got stuck in the traffic congestion and had to take a detour to reach Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).

Police tried to control the situation by diverting the vehicular movement through other roads, but that did not help much. As the College Street crossing is one of the major junctions in the city, huge traffic congestion took place.

On Friday morning, the students withdrew the blockade for an hour, with the condition that the university authorities will have to talk with them regarding their demands. The V-C of Presidency University Anuradha Lohia, meanwhile, stated that discussion is possible unless the students withdraw blockade.

Meanwhile, a few commuters and local residents got involved in an altercation with the students. It has been alleged that when locals requested them to withdraw their protest, the students refused.

Later on Friday at around 4:30 pm, students announced that keeping the harassment of people in mind they are withdrawing the blockade, but will continue with their movement.