Chandigarh,17 May:Today Prof A.S. Ahluwalia, and Manjit Singh, Chairman and Coordinator of Joint Action Committee respectively called on Sh Balramji Das Tandon, former President, BJP Punjab, and had a detailed discussion with him on the issue of central university status for Panjab University. After listening to our arguments he wondered, ‘if Centre is ready to fully finance Panjab University without changing much of present structure and representation of the Punjab Government therein, what objection anyone could have to it”.
He said that he would talk to the functionaries of Punjab Government on these lines. He also said that a large number of present political leaders of Punjab are alumni of P.U. and it is their moral obligation to take care of the problems, if any, faced by the Panjab University.
At the dharna site on the campus, on the other hand, a big contingent of 17 students from Manipur today took over the command on the 41st day of the chain fast demanding Central University Status for PU. There are nearly 700 Manipur students studying in Chandigarh at present out of which nearly one hundred of them are on the campus of P.U. When asked that why are they enthusiastic to participate in the agitation for the central university, Ms Lillie, Research Scholar from the department of Sociology, said that most of the students from the North East come from the under-developed region of India and cannot afford the rising cost of education in Chandigarh. In case the trend of mobilizing university financial resources at the cost of students went unchecked, the dreams of thousands of students from the poor sectors/ sections of India would be shattered in no time. “Chandigarh institutions of higher education are a big attraction for the students from the North East as most of them have tribal origin and cannot afford the exorbitant expenses on quality education at other places”, said Sh Damudor, a research scholar from the department of Geography
The students and research scholars from different departments who sat on the fast today were S Binodkumar Singh, Defense and Strategic Studies, N. Inaoba Singh, Anthropology, Laishram Dineshour Meitei, Political Science, M Sangeeta Devi, AIHCA, N. Bobby Singh, L. Gandhi Singh, M. Damudor Singh, Ksh. Bankim Kumar Singh, all from Geography, K Milan Kumar Sharma, Earth Science, R. K. Herojeet, Centre for Environment Science, Yumlembam Khogan Singh, Haobam Nomita Devi, M. Lilee Devi, Lamabam Sonia Devi, Sonia Khomdram, all from Sociology, Cherish Sonia Devi, Phy Edu and N. Jasma from English department. Dr. Anju Rao, Department of Botany, represented the teachers.