Rajdhani College students stage demonstrations and block the NH-5 road on Monday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov 3: Students of Rajdhani College today demonstrated on the National Highway No. 5, protesting against pilling up of construction material in and around the institute.

They had blocked the highway for nearly half an hour near Baramunda, causing inconvenience to commuters.

The students alleged that they had to face problems due to dumps of the construction materials just outside the college. Heaps of sand, stone chips can be spotted in front of the college.

Besides, a large number of bricks have also been lying there.

On the other hand, the commuters expressed their anguish on the demonstrators as they were forced to remain stranded.

“The road connects the Baramunda bus terminal, the highway and Khandagiri. If the students have any problem, they should have taken up the matter in the right forum. They do not have any rights to block the road and disrupt vehicular movement,” said Rajeev Lochan Senapati, a commuter.

Another commuter, too, vented his ire against the students. “Police should be firm on such demonstrations on the highways. The students may have genuine grievances, but this is not the way. This creates problems for passengers.”

An agitating student Sujit Kumar Nayak said: “The area has become a dumping yard for construction materials. As the college is located beside the national highway, a number of minor accidents have taken place in recent past.”

They also alleged that the problem had worsened due to the ongoing road expansion. “Due to piling up of the construction materials, heavy vehicles passing through the highway take more time.

The agitation came to an end after police intervention. “We would initiate against the squatters,” said a police official.

The college started functioning in 1973 and got shifted to Baramunda in 1989. The present 15-acre campus has more than 1,500 students, who alleged that often supervisors of the construction materials resorted to harass them.

“The encroached area should have been used for beautification. Our college is one among the reputed government institutes in Bhubaneswar, but the problem has persisted for long. If the problem is not sorted out, we would intensify our agitation,” said another student.