Amid the ongoing protests of students against fee hike, the vice chancellor of Allahabad University said on Wednesday, 21 September that claim of hike in fees by 400 times was a "falsehood" and promised to waive off the entire fee of all those students hailing from low-income backgrounds and orphaned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students have been protesting against the fee hike, allegedly by 400 times, at the university. One of the student leaders also tried to immolate himself on Monday, but was saved by the police.
Allahabad University Vice Chancellor Sangita Srivastava said in a statement, shared on the university's Twitter handle, that the fee per student for the last several decades was Rs 975 a year, which comes down to Rs 81 a month.
The university has enhanced the fee to Rs 4,151 annually, or Rs 333 per month, the VC added.
'30-40 Students Spreading Falsehoods'
She also said that the process regarding the enhancement of fee hike had gone through "rigorous" deliberation, and had been discussed by the Finance Committee, Academic Council, and Executive Council of the university.
Further, she said that a 400-times increase in the fee was a rumour and that the complaint of students was being "misdirected."
"What is being spread is that there is a 400-times increase which is not correct. The 30-40 students who have chosen to disrupt the campus by falsehood are trying to ruin the academic environment of Allahabad University. The complaint of the students is misdirected," Srivastava's statement read.
"Those who are so poor and are orphaned in COVID, I am giving my word, the university shall waive the entire fee for them," she further stated.
Meanwhile, some students alleged that the district administration was "threatening" to demolish their homes using bulldozers.
Addressing the press, vice-president of the varsity's student union Akhilesh Yadav said, "The district administration is threatening to demolish (our) houses by sending a team of Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) to end the movement."
Another student said that the university was "threatening" to cancel their degrees if they did not end the protest.
"Today is the 16th day of the agitation against the fee hike. The university administration is constantly threatening to cancel our degrees," Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha leader Ajay Yadav Samrat said, as per news agency PTI.
"The police is threatening the agitating students to end their stir, and telling them that they will be sent to jail under the Gangster Act. Hurt by these things, I and four other comrades, leading this movement, are going to sit on hunger strike from today," he added.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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