Protesting students removed from Pondicherry Uni campus ahead of VP Naidu's visit

Ahead of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu's visit to the Pondicherry University, police forcefully evicted the protesting university students from the main entrance. The Pondicherry University students have been protesting against the hike in University fees. The Vice President is scheduled to attend the convocation ceremony at the university on Wednesday.

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The Pondicherry University administration had earlier requested the student protesters to vacate the premises of the administrative block, but the request was denied by the students. Ignorance of the University's request to move from the main premises led to their forceful eviction by the police.

Multiple student groups including Students' Federation of India (SFI), DMK Student Wing, All India Students' Federation (AISF) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) have been protesting against the fee hike for more than two weeks.

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Why are Puducherry students protesting?

Reports state that the University's Student Council has been protesting over the last two weeks against the 200 percent increase in fees levied by the University on various courses. The fee hike has reportedly been the highest on MCA, MSc/MTech (computer science) and MBA courses at 132.4%, 124%, and 95% respectively. The Council has occupied the lobby of the Administrative block 24x7 since February 6, refusing to stop until complete rollback of the fee hike.

In a peace offering bid, the University had offered to reduce the fee by 20 percent for economically backward students, as per reports. Moreover, it stated that the fees had not been revised for the past 10 years and funds were insufficient presently. This offer has been rejected by the Council and protests continue.

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(With ANI inputs)