Poor food quality: Student unions gherao CRSU chief warden

Jind: Different student unions on Friday laid siege to the chief warden at Jind-based Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University (CRSU), alleging poor food quality provided to the students in the hostel.The protesting students said, troubled by the continuous serving of poor-quality, substandard, and unhygienic food in the hostel at CRSU, the Kisan Chhatra Ekta Sangathan, Independent Youth Front and other student bodies decided to jointly launch a protest.They said students protested peacefully but firmly, gheraoing the chief warden in his office for approximately 90 minutes to press for their demands.The students said for a long time they were served food that was harmful to their health and detrimental to their future. Despite repeated complaints, no concrete action was taken against the contractor concerned, they added.Student leader Abhishek Julana alleged that instead of taking students' issues seriously, the chief warden appeared to be defending the contractor. He said rather than taking strict action over the poor quality of food, the administration focused on disciplining and suppressing students, while making no sincere effort to resolve the root problem.Govind Saini, president of the Kisan Chhatra Ekta Sangathan, said providing clean, nutritious, and quality food to students was the responsibility of the university administration. The organisation raised the issue multiple times with the authorities, but each time they received only assurances, he said.If strict action is not taken against the contractor and improvements are not made in the food system soon, the agitation will be intensified, Saini warned.Amit Aadiwal, president of the Independent Youth Front, said students always raised their concerns in a peaceful and democratic manner. However, when their issues were continuously ignored, they were forced to resort to protest.He warned that if a permanent and transparent solution was not implemented, larger-scale protests would be organised in future, for which the university administration would be fully responsible.Another protestor, Mukul Tandon, said the movement was not against any individual but was a fight for students' rights and dignity. If the administration fails to take concrete steps at the earliest, students will continue to unite and fight strongly for their rights, he added.MSID:: 128611663 413 |