Utkal University students stage protest demanding eviction of unauthorised occupants from campus hostel

BHUBANESWAR: A day after Utkal University evicted non-boarders from hostels, several students and former pupils on Tuesday stormed into the office of the vice chancellor and demanded the removal of illegal occupants living in quarters and slum-dwellers residing on the campus.

The students and alumni of the university staged a protest in front of Vice Chancellor Jagneshwar Dandapat, Registrar Swati Mishra and other officials of the institute. "Everyone wants peace here. Outsiders were removed from the hostels on Monday. We demand similar eviction of those living illegally in quarters and slum dwellers residing on the campus," a protesting former student said.

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The vice chancellor said the university again issued a notice to those residing illegally on the campus, and asserted that they would be evicted soon. On the removal of slum dwellers from the campus, he said a discussion has been initiated with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) in this regard.

"We have to follow certain rules to evict the unauthorised occupants from the quarters. We had earlier issued a notice to them, and a second notice was issued on Tuesday, giving them a three-day deadline to vacate the premises. Eviction drives would soon be carried out," Registrar Swati Mishra said.

A special drive was launched to remove all outsiders from the hostels to ensure a better academic environment on the campus, she said. The university, with the help of the police force, evicted non-boarders from hostels on Monday.