‘Lack of amenities on Panjab University’s south campus needs attention’

CHANDIGARH: Nikhil Narmeta, the presidential candidate put up by the National Students Union of India (NSUI) remained in controversy throughout the nomination process.The opposition parties filed objections related to his age and attendance with the election committee. But in the end, he got a clean chit and his candidature was accepted. The 22-year-old from Warangal, Telangana, is a student of biotechnology at University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET).He says he wanted to thank the opposition parties for talking about him everywhere as he believed they were only doing his publicity. According to Nikhil, the lack of facilities at PU’s south campus (Sector 25, where UIET is located) is one of the most important issues that needs to be resolved. “South campus is also a part of PU. But it seems the authorities have forgotten that. If we win the polls, we will press for a mini-student centre at south campus and more shops here so students here can also have some facilities at hand,” he says. Having protested for fee hike, Nikhil says the students of UIET were being wrongly charged Rs 1 lakh per year in the name of self-financed course. “Both UIET and chemical engineering department offer the same engineering degrees. But UIET students have to pay up to five times higher fee. How is this justified?”He says PU was constantly slipping in the ranking because the university did not have enough funds to devote to quality researches. “If we are elected to the student council, these will be issues which we will resolve by taking all possible measures,” he says.