GB Pant Engineering College: Students protest alleging fee hike, poor facilities

NEW DELHI: Several students from the GB Pant Engineering College affiliated to Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University (DSEU) on Monday staged a protest alleging a sharp fee hike, lack of basic amenities, and alleged administrative high-handedness.

The university administration has not issued an official statement on the matter yet. The protest led by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students' wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was staged against a sudden hike in annual fees from Rs 1,34,000 to Rs 1,76,000, which the students termed "arbitrary" and "unaffordable", a statement issued by the ABVP said.

The protesters also raised concerns claiming inadequate infrastructure, poor living conditions, and what they described as "authoritarian attitude" of the college administration. The protest intensified amid warnings of expulsion (by the authorities) and alleged disregard for the students' demands, leading to a lockdown of the college premises for several hours, the statement said.

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The students submitted a memorandum to the director of the institute demanding immediate rollback of the fee hike and redressal of their grievances. "The agitation will continue until the administration rolls back the hiked fees and stops its anti-student policies," the ABVP said in the statement, claiming that the students have collectively decided not to pay the increased fees.

The secretary of ABVP's Delhi chapter, Sarthak Sharma, said, "The unexpected fee hike at DSEU is deeply concerning for the students, who are not only struggling financially but are also deprived of basic facilities. After today's protest, the director has assured action but our fight will continue." Sharma also said that ABVP plans to escalate the protest and raise the issue with the university's vice-chancellor in the coming days.