College principal on sit-in protest for basic facilities

College principal on sit-in protest for basic facilities

Bosco.Dominique@timesgroup.com

Puducherry:21.01.2021

The principal of a government college in Puducherry has launched a novel protest to highlight the problems students and faculty face.

From Wednesday, Sasi Kanta Dash, principal of Tagore Government Arts College, refused to use his chamber and instead set up office on the floor near a bust of Tagore at the entrance to the institution. He’s also decided to spend his nights at the college until the government fulfills a 12-point charter of demands.

These demands are to provide basic amenities for students such as classrooms with adequate seating, toilets and common rooms for girl students, and renovation of the computer laboratory, physics laboratory and auditorium. From just 647 students in 2016, the college no had more than 14,000 students, but infrastructure had not kept pace. The result: The 45-year-old dilapidated auditorium now houses three classrooms without partitions. The toilets for girl students are inadequate and computer and physics laboratories have not been upgraded. "How will the toilet facilities set up for 600-odd students cater to the needs of 14,000-odd students. Within 30 minutes the toiletsrun dry and we have to call the services of water tankers. The auditorium is dilapidated and if any untoward incident happens the teachers must not be made scapegoats," said the principal. He said repeated pleas to the officials concerned fell on deaf ears.

"My conscience does not allow me to sit in the principal's chamber while all my students and staff members are suffering in this pitiful environment. Therefore from January 20, I shall discharge my official duty by sitting on the floor of the college and staying in the college day and night till the grievances are met. I wish to categorically declare that my action is not a protest against the government or any authority but an expression of the unbearable anguish I feel when I see my students and staff members suffer," said Dash.

From Wednesday, Sasi Kanta Dash, principal of Tagore Government Arts College, refused to use his chamber and instead set up office on the floor near a bust of Tagore at the entrance to the institution