Academic and administrative activities at the North Bengal University (NBU) got disrupted on Wednesday as the Trinamul-backed contractual teachers and employees at the institution locked down the varsity's watch and ward building where keys of the administrative building, all departments and other infrastructure of NBU are kept.
The oldest and largest university in north Bengal, NBU is located in Shivmandir, on the northwest outskirts of Siliguri.
“The vice-chancellor assured us last month that we will get an increment of 10 per cent from March. He changed the decision within a day. Also, as of now, the VC is not there in NBU, there is no registrar. An officiating registrar is working. Altogether, the administration is in a shambles. That is why we launched the protest at the watch and ward building,” said Tanmoy Bagchi, the spokesperson of the NBU branch of Sara Bangla Trinamul Sikshabandhu Samiti.
The NBU has 400 contractual and casual workers and 50 contractual teachers.
Ranjit Roy, a representative of the samiti, blamed the "governor's interference". Governor C.V. Ananda Bose had appointed VC C.M. Ravindran.
Roy said that NBU had no convocation in the university in the past few years, and teachers and workers were not getting their promotions. The VC "has no power", causing many important decisions to get stuck. "The institution has virtually become patron-less,” Roy said.
Because of the protests, the administrative building and all 36 departments of the NBU remained closed on Wednesday. Altogether, the NBU has around 5,000 students and around 200 teachers.
Over the past few days, the samiti members have been organising protests against governor Bose and VC Ravindran. Bose is also the chancellor of the NBU.
“The demonstration virtually paralysed the varsity on Wednesday. Only emergency services like ambulance, security and water supply were exempt from the strike. Many students had come for their regular classes but had to return,” said a faculty member.
“Along with students, who are pursuing post-graduation, there are research scholars at the NBU and they need to access the laboratory and the library. Closing down the institution would affect their studies and research,” he added.
He said teachers and students had no idea whether there would be any classes on Thursday.
“We don’t know what is happening. Because of the absence of authorities, we have not yet received our salaries this month,” the teacher added.
Later in the evening, NBU sources said that the officiating registrar called an emergency meeting on Thursday.
“Certain important issues will be discussed at the meeting to resolve the problems and to ensure that regular academic activities continue at the varsity,” said a varsity source.