Jadavpur University has appealed to the state government to expedite the process of sanctioning 35 posts for contractual security personnel to strengthen security on the campus where education minister Bratya Basu was allegedly heckled by some students earlier this month.
A senior JU official said they requested the department to sanction the posts by the end of this month.
“We have given an estimate that 35 security staff be appointed against a monthly salary of ₹15,000 each,” the official said.
On March 2, a day after Basu was allegedly heckled, he had said he would like to know from JU’s authorised vice-chancellor where the varsity’s internal security personnel were on March 1.
A JU official said they approached the state government to approve the posts immediately to beef up security on the campus.
“We don’t have funds to pay the salaries of these contractual staff, given the fund crunch that JU is facing. So, we have approached the state government,” the official said.
An initial proposal on appointing the security staff was sent to the department last month.
“But we held a meeting with the state government last week, so the posts could be sanctioned immediately considering what happened on March 1,” the official said.
The issue of appointing additional security staff had come up following the death of a first-year undergraduate student in the JU main hostel in August 2023.