Shift in venue: Presidency decides to conduct Convocation at Nandan

Kolkata: The Convocation of Presidency University will be held at Nandan III auditorium on Tuesday and the chancellor of the university, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will not be present at the programme.

The honorary degrees along with honorary D Litt and DSc will be conferred in the programme of half an hour. The degrees of the students will be handed over to them personally later.

The uncertainty over the venue of convocation began right from Monday morning after a section of agitating students prevented the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar of the varsity from entering the institute's campus.

The two returned after waiting for sometime. Initially with the consent of the Chancellor, Raj Bhavan was selected as the venue. However, suddenly in a dramatic turn of events, the Governor in a written communication to Vice Chancellor Anuradha Lohia said he would not be able to preside over the programme. Following this, the varsity had to shift the venue and in the late evening, registrar Debajyoti Konar said it will be held at Nandan III.

The agitating students had blocked the main entrance of the university demanding immediate accommodation in the adjacent Hindu Hostel. Students have been demanding accommodation in the Hindu Hostel for more than a month now.

State Education minister Partha Chatterjee hit out at the agitators and said they had inherited the legacy of raising slogans from the erstwhile Left regime in the state. "These agitators have inherited the legacy of raising slogans and campaigning at factory gates from the 34 years of Left rule. But Presidency University is an educational institution, not a factory," the minister asserted.

V-C Lohia expressed her doubts over holding the convocation on the varsity campus while speaking to the reporters after being stopped at the gate. "There are so many students in the university and only a section of them are involved in such activities (protests). I don't want tomorrow's (Tuesday) Convocation ceremony to get affected in any way," she said. The V-C made it clear that she would not seek police help in this regard.

"We are not against the convocation ceremony as it involves the prestige of Presidency. We want it to be held smoothly. However, it is the responsibility of the varsity authorities to ensure its safe conductance," one of the agitating students said.