MSU revokes hostel mess fee decision

Vadodara: After massive protest at the official residence of the vice-chancellor (VC), M S University on Friday was forced to withdraw its controversial decision on hostel mess fee. The university had asked students to compulsory pay entire year’s mess fee in advance in order to take admission in the Halls of Residence.
The decision taken by Prof Vijay Srivastava, the VC, required students to pay Rs 24,000 as annual food bill apart from Rs 7,000 hostel fees for admission at the hostel campus.The rule of paying the mess fee for a year in advance instead of monthly mess fee led to a major protest.
The Vidhyarthi Vikas Sangh (VVS), a student outfit, had given the call for Friday’s protest under the banner of MSU Hostel Unity. A large group of students, including girls, first reached the office of the chief warden of the Halls of Residence on Friday evening to make a representation. Then the students took out a rally and reached ‘Dhanvantri’, the official residence of the VC.
The rally in front of Kamatibaug also led to traffic jam even as Sayajigunj police tried to stop the students from entering the bungalow. But the students forcibly opened the main gate of the bungalow and entered the premises. A couple of girl students alleged that male cops had misbehaved with them while they were trying to enter the bungalow. While Srivastava’s absence was conspicuous, the hostel students staged a ‘dharna’ by chanting ‘Ram Dhun’ and ‘Hanuman Chalisa’, raised slogans against the VC, demanding that the decision be immediately withdrawn.
Even as senior cops tried to calm down the tempers, the protestors virtually ‘gheraoed’ the bungalow. Eventually, MSU’s registrar Dr K M Chudasama and Prof Hitesh Raviya, officer on special duty (public relations), addressed the gathering of the students.
Chudasama announced that the university has decided to follow the earlier pattern and there will be no change in the hostel mess fee collection. “There was a discussion on collecting annual mess fee which we have withdrawn,” he said.
“We are happy that the university officials have agreed to our demand,’’ said VVS president Parth Pandya, who led the agitation.