Dhanbad: A day after the decision was taken to increase the fees of all 10 constituent colleges under Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University, several student organisations staged a dharna and burnt the effigy of the vice chancellor Anjani Kumar Srivastava at PK Roy Memorial College on Thursday.
Meanwhile, another delegation of student leaders staged a gherao at the Koylanchal office on Luby Circular Road and handed a memorandum to the vice chancellor demanding immediate roll back of fee hike.
Principals of 10 constituent colleges of Koylanchal university under the chairmanship of VC Srivastava held a meeting on Wednesday during which they decided to implement uniform fee structure for all the 10 constituent colleges across Dhanbad and Bokaro, resulting in around 41% fee hike at some intuitions.
The overall fees for undergraduate courses have been raised from Rs 1,600 to around Rs 2,106. College examination fee was revised from Rs 20 to Rs 120, while sports fee was increased to Rs 120 from Rs 30. Besides, there has been a hike of Rs 10 in building maintenance fee, library fee and students union fee, while identity card fee saw a Rs 30 hike.
Talking to the media, Vikash Dubey, PK Roy Memorial College unit president of National Students Union of India (NSUI), said, "The hike in fees for undergraduate courses is totally unjustified. The university should concentrate on providing quality education to students and holding classes regularly than increasing the fees."
Registrar of Kolylanchal university Parmanand Mahto said, "The hike was aimed at implementing a uniform fee structure for all colleges. Ultimately we didn't want students to get confused with the fee structure while applying for admissions in different colleges."
Teachers' agitation
Members of Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University Teachers Association staged a demonstration by sporting black badges on Thursday. "We demand implementation of 7th pay commission recommendation for teachers and addressing anomalies in the 6th pay commission for teachers," said Himanshu Shekhar, general secretary of Koylanchal teachers' association.
