Allahabad University Protest: Students take out march demanding fee hike rollback

NEW DELHI: Allahabad University (UoA) students sitting on a fast to protest against an increase in fees for the past 70 days took out a 'Jan Aakrosh March' on Tuesday to demand restoration of the students' union and rollback of the hike.

"Besides the demand for withdrawal of the fee hike, the students have also launched an agitation against the illegal appointment of Vice-Chancellor Sangeeta Srivastava," said student leader Ajay Yadav Samrat. The students have been sitting on a hunger strike for 70 days but the vice-chancellor is not even concerned.

They are not deviating from their obstinate attitude, he alleged. Samrat is part of the group of students sitting on a hunger strike for the past 70 days. On Tuesday, a large number of students gathered at the students' union building for the march, holding posters and raising slogans.

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The university decided to hold talks with the agitators under certain conditions. The meeting did not lead to a conclusion as Students' Union vice-president Akhilesh Yadav said: "The meeting between the university administration and the students' union over the fee hike, which lasted for about two-and-a-half hours, was a complete failure".

The university's said in a official statement that “The members of the high level committee called legitimate students to speak, but the names presented by the students included former student union president Richa Singh, who are currently not students of the university.”

“The university is ready to listen to the problems of its legitimate students. But it becomes clear from the list that the chaos in the campus is being spread only by some selfish elements due to their vested interests and political ambition,” the university added in its official Twitter handle.

Police and administration officials remained with the students during the march to ensure that no untoward incident took place. The students have alleged that the fees for undergraduate courses, which were Rs 975 a year, have been hiked over 300 per cent to Rs 4,151.