The university employees protest against the VC. Picture by Prakash Kumar

Muzaffarpur, Sept. 23: The vice-chancellor (VC) and pro-vice-chancellor of Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, Bimal Kumar and Padmasha Jha, respectively, faced the wrath of rampaging university employees today.

The angry non-teaching employees, headed by University Employees’ Association secretary Fateh Bahadur Singh, assaulted the VC in full view of the university officials.

Agitating employees forced the closure of the administrative building and squatted outside it to protest against the non-payment of wages for the past six months to daily wagers. Sources said the university was also thinking of retrenching some of the daily wagers.

The protesters held the VC and the pro-VC captive in their chambers for an hour and cut-off the electricity connection. Raising slogans, they earlier dragged out the varsity officials and other employees from the offices to vent their anguish. The employees even littered night soil in the VC’s office and got into an altercation with the VC.

Some of the employees violently rushed towards the VC to catch hold of him, which was prevented by their co-workers. In the meleé, the pro-VC received blows and her glass bangles were broken.

The sub-divisional officer (east), Rajesh Bharti, rushed to the university with heavy reinforcement to contain the situation. The secretary of the University Employees’ Association accused the VC of stopping payment to daily wagers. A delegation of daily wagers met him. The VC, instead of fulfilling demands, rebuked them for no reason.

“This angered the daily wagers and the employees of the association who clashed with the VC,” said Singh. On his part, the vice-chancellor said he acted tough with the errant employees who conspired to create disturbances in the university.