CUO Students Boycott 10th Foundation Day

Koraput: Demanding fulfillment of 60-point charter of demands, the students of Central University of Orissa (CUO) here on Wednesday boycotted the 10th Foundation Day function.

The agitating students took out a rally and staged a sit-in near the venue wearing black badges. As a mark of protest, they covered their mouths with black cloths.

They also put up black flags in front of university hostels.

According to sources, the agitating students were called in for a meeting, but they got into an argument with Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the varsity Sachidananda Mohanty while discussing the issue. The outcome of the meeting is yet to be disclosed.

Meanwhile, police personnel have been deployed at the campus to maintain law and order.

In the first week of April, some students had tried to barge into the VC’s chamber to press for their demands. Police had rushed to the spot and controlled the situation.

The students had also locked up the administrative building on the main campus at Sunabeda, around 20km from Koraput, rejecting the authorities’ claims that over 90 per cent of the demands had been met.

Latter, the district administration intervened in the matter and the students agreed to budge.

According to the students, the varsity authorities’ claims about fulfilling 54 of the 60 demands have been fulfilled was nothing but a blatant lie. Except for putting bulbs at a few places, no other demands have been met, they said, adding that since the university was closed sine die, they had to miss classes.

In March, the students had sat on dharna over appointment of permanent professors, round-the-clock healthcare facilities, WiFi, hostels for research scholars and shifting of the main administrative office from Landiguda to the main campus.