The protest seeking the removal of Tezpur University vice-chancellor S.N. Singh entered its 82nd day on Tuesday and marked 13 days since the central university’s functioning came to a standstill.
A student leader said they were still waiting for a formal response from the Ministry of Education, which had sent a three-member team to the campus on Saturday to hold talks with the agitators and resolve the standoff.
“The team had assured us that our demands would be addressed by Tuesday, but we haven’t received any official response yet. We’ve been asked to wait till 11pm. If nothing comes by then, the protest will continue,” the student said.
The central team had on Saturday shared handwritten minutes of its meeting with representatives of students, teachers, and non-teaching staff, stating that professor Shambhu Nath Singh would no longer exercise administrative powers and that a time-bound inquiry would be initiated into the allegations against him.
The protesters, under the banner of the Tezpur University United Forum (TUUF), are demanding Singh’s removal on charges of financial irregularities and mismanagement and a formal probe into his tenure.
The team was allowed to leave the campus only after Saumya Gupta, joint secretary, department of higher education, handed over the signed minutes to the TUUF. The delegation remained on the premises for over two hours after the meeting.
The protest had first erupted on September 21, when the university administration went ahead with classes and student council elections during the state mourning for singer-composer Zubeen Garg, who died in Singapore on September 19. From November 27, the agitation intensified, crippling the varsity’s operations.
CM visit
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday met Norwegian ambassador to India May-Elin Stener and discussed a range of issues, including Assam tea, foreign language training and skill-based education.
In a post on X, Sarma wrote: “Pleased to meet H.E. May-Elin Stener, Ambassador of Norway to India today. We discussed a wide range of issues, including Assam Tea, our efforts in foreign language training and skill-based education, among others. We will deepen our cooperation in the coming days.”
Additional inputs from PTI