The Hindu : Karnataka / Mysore News : Hostel girls stage dharna

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 03, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Hostel girls stage dharna

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, SEPT. 2. Students of the Postgraduate Women's Hostel at Manasagangotri here today went on a hunger strike and staged a dharna seeking better facilities.

Three students fell sick on Tuesday after dinner. Students of various undergraduate and postgraduate courses of the university participated in the hunger strike. The Registrar, N.D. Tiwari, who arrived at the spot where the students sat in a dharna, was locked inside the hostel premises for an hour. The girls refused to budge even when he promised that action would be taken to solve their problems. They sought the intervention of the Vice-Chancellor, J. Shashidhar Prasad.

The students said that they were forced to stage a dharna after their pleas were ignored. The quality of food served at the hostel mess was unpalatable and the authorities did not initiate action on opening another mess at the new block.

Turned away

Meanwhile, the girls turned away the Chamaraja MLA, H.S. Shankarlinge Gowda, who arrived at the spot to hear their grievances. They said the matter was being discussed with the authorities concerned and there was no need to politicise it.

Further, when boys boycotted classes and came to the women's hostel to show solidarity, the girls turned them away too.

Later, the boys took out a procession to the Crawford Hall seeking better facilities at the hostel.

The students withdrew their hunger strike and dharna when they were informed that the Vice-Chancellor would hold a meeting on Saturday to discuss their problems.

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