Biju Patnaik University of Technology in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 28: Students of various engineering colleges affiliated to Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), under the banner of BPUT Students’ Organisation (BSO), have planned to gherao the university office at Gandamunda here on Monday.

Around 350 students from colleges across the state are expected to participate in the agitation tomorrow and present a memorandum to BPUT vice-chancellor, J.K. Satapathy. They have prepared a four-point charter of demands including revocation of fee hike in private engineering colleges.

“Almost all private colleges are charging far more than the annual fee structure as fixed by the government. Apart from the tuition fee, which ranges from Rs 35,000 to Rs 68,000 for different institutions, students are often forced to pay for optional facilities. The colleges make it mandatory to avail bus service, have canteen food and purchase books from them and in the process, we end up paying much more than the stipulated fee,” said Biswajit Mohapatra, vice-president of BSO.

“We all have been raising several issues in our respective colleges from time to time, but the university authorities have not taken significant action. Hence, we have decided to approach them under an organised union,” Mohapatra said, adding they would hit the streets if their demands were not fulfilled within a month.

The students alleged that the colleges do not adhere to the academic calendar, which results in delay in exams and publication of results. “Since results are announced very late, students, who are recruited during the campus placement drive, forfeit the opportunity,” said Dwarika Nath Mohanty, president of BSO.

Mohanty said the union would take up other issues including fake campus placements in the coming days. “Colleges must do a background check of the companies which come for recruiting students. Many students have been conned by imposters into paying a huge amount of consultancy fee but never heard from them after that,” Mohanty said.