Students burn effigies of state higher education minister Debi Prasad Mishra outside one of the gates of Ravenshaw University on Monday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Nov. 8: The ongoing crisis at Ravenshaw University over the decision to allot the renovated East Hostel to girl students continued on Monday. Agitating students refusing to give up their claim over the hostel and kept all the gates closed.

Registrar Smarapriya Mishra was not available for comments. A senior official said: “No staff could enter the campus today. There had been no classes and all academic activities continued to remain paralysed as the agitating students kept the main gates locked and prevented the staff from entering the campus.”

The stalemate continued notwithstanding state higher education minister Debi Prasad Mishra’s efforts to break it through a reconciliation formula, chalked out at a meeting on Saturday, in the presence of local MLAs, students’ union representatives and the vice-chancellor.

It was decided at the meet that the East Hostel would be allotted to girls. However, 50 seats in the West Hostel would be earmarked for boys and later, the hostel, which currently functions as School of Management, would be converted into a general boys’ hostel. Moreover, the varsity would soon have two 400-bed hostels, one each for boys and girls, and steps would be taken to start work by the end of January 2011.

“When we locked the gates and resumed our agitation on October 28, our demand was very clear. There is no question of accepting the government’s decision,” said Pratap Mohanty, one of the agitating students. They are demanding a rollback in the decision to allot the East hostel to the girl students.

In an apparent bid to express their rejection of the government decision, the agitating students today burnt effigies of state higher education minister Debi Prasad Mishra.

“It’s strange that the higher education minister has gone back on his words,” said Ganeswar Pradhan, another agitating student.

“Moreover, we withdrew our strike on September 1 after we had been assured accommodation for the 96 students in the East Hostel by September 15,” said Soubhagya Swain, another agitating student.

Cuttack, Nov. 8: The crisis in Ravenshaw University, arising out of a decision to allot the East Hostel, after its renovation, to girl students, continued on Monday, with the agitating students refusing to budge over their claim over the hostel and keeping all gates closed.

Registrar Smarapriya Mishra, the authorized spokesperson of the University was not available for comments. But a senior University said “No staff could enter the campus today. There had been no classes and all academic activities had continued to remain paralyzed as the agitating students kept the main gates locked and prevented them from entering the campus”.

The stalemate has continued notwithstanding state higher education minister Debi Prasad Mishra’s efforts to break it through a reconciliation formula chalked out at a meeting on Saturday in the presence of local MLAs, students’ union representatives and the Vice Chancellor.

It was decided at the meeting that East Hostel would be allotted to girls, but 50 seats in West Hostel would be earmarked for general boys and over a period of time, the West Hostel which currently functions as School of Management would be converted into a general boys' hostel.

Besides, the varsity would soon have two 400-seated hostels, one each for boys and girls and steps would be taken to start work for 200 seats in each by the end of January 2011.

“When we resumed our agitation on October 28 by locking up the gates our demand was very clear. So there is no question of accepting the decision of the government”, said Pratap Mohanty, one of the agitating students. They are demanding a roll back in the decision to allot the East hostel, after its renovation, to the girl students.

In an apparent bid to express their rejection of the government decision the agitating students today burnt effigies of the state higher education minister Debi Prasad Mishra.

“It’s strange that the higher education minister who had two years ago asked us to vacate East Hostel for renovation has now gone back in his words”, alleged Ganeswar Pradhan, another agitating student.

“Moreover, we had withdrawn our strike on September 1 after we were assured accommodation for the 96 students in East Hostel by September 15“But before we withdrew our strike on September 1 we were given written assurance that 96 students will be accommodated in East Hostel by September 15”, said Soubhagya Swain, another agitating student.

“We were assured that the 34 inmates who were boarders in the East Hostel before the renovation work was undertaken in October-November last year and the 62 students who had been assured hostel facilities during admission this year will be accommodated in East Hostel”, Swain alleged.