Students at Kolkata's Presidency University demand reversal of fee hike; acting VC under gherao for over 12 hours

Presidency University Vice-Chancellor Nirmalya Narayan Chakraborty has been under gherao for over 12 hours by students demanding a written commitment to reverse the proposed hike in admission fees.

The students also gheraoed the registrar in the main campus of the varsity since July 31 evening.

"We want the VC to provide us with a written assurance that the proposal of fee hike will be withdrawn. We will allow him to leave once he agrees to it," Bitan Islam, an SFI activist, said.

Neither the in-charge VC Chakraborty nor Registrar Debojyoti Konar responded to phone calls during the protest.

The proposed hike would raise fees from ₹4,205 to ₹7,200 at the undergraduate level and from ₹4,300 to ₹7,200 for postgraduate students.

An official from the university said that the proposed fee hike, the first in about 10 years, is being considered due to a financial crunch affecting the procurement of new books for libraries, laboratory instruments, and maintenance of existing facilities.

"The acting VC sir and registrar sir are sitting on couches and we are providing water, food and other refreshments to them. We are also monitoring their health condition. They are okay. But this is the question of life and death for students," Bitan said.

Approximately 100 students, led by the Students Federation of India (SFI), have been staging a sit-in at the university's main campus on College Street for the past six days demanding rollback of the fee hike proposal. The gherao began at around 8 pm on Wednesday after the acting VC refused to give any written assurance.

"The fee hike has become imperative as the institution is facing a funds crunch, which has affected procurement of new books for the library, instruments for laboratories and proper upkeep of existing lab facilities," the university official said.

The increase is intended to apply only to first-semester admissions.