Vandalism continues on MU campus, hostel ransacked

GAYA: With boarders ransacking hostel number seven of the university, vandalism continued on the Magadh University (MU) campus for the second consecutive day on Friday. Besides causing extensive damage to the hostel's water supply system, the unauthorized boarders also destroyed the electrical fittings in the hostel. Reports also said that smoke was seen billowing out of one of the rooms targetted by illegal occupants. Sita Ram Singh, dean, Students Welfare (DSW), while apparently underplaying the incident, admitted that the water supply system and electrical fittings of hostel number 7 had been damaged. The DSW denied reports of fire in one of the rooms. According to the DSW, eviction notice has been served on all the boarders. The eviction notice was served late on Thursday evening.The situation was fully under control and more than 80% boarders have already complied with the eviction notice. Some boarders hailing from other states faced some genuine problems like non-availability of train and their case would be considered on humanitarian grounds and they may be given some extra time to pack off and leave the hostel, said Singh. The university administration is committed to ensure full compliance of the eviction order. In any case, the hostels had to be repaired and renovated and the repair renovation cannot be done without getting the hostels fully vacated, the DSW added. Earlier, on Thursday evening, a high-level meeting was held to take stock of the situation. The meet was presided by VC Prof Md Ishtiaq. According to MU PRO Shamsul Islam, there was unanimity at the meet that lawlessness cannot be tolerated on the campus and the illegal boarders have to be finally evicted. According to sources, the kingpin of Thursday's vandalisation has been identified. The local police have been given the names of two of the miscreants who led largescale vandalisation in which university property worth several lakhs was destroyed and some teachers and officials including a woman officer were roughed up. The officer suffered bruises on her body.The vandalisation is being attributed to the non-compliance of the advisory given by the security agencies to screen the boarders and make the campus free of illegal hostel occupants. The advisory was given following the Bodh Gaya serial blasts in which two persons including a student of the Buddhist Studies department of the university were injured.The sanitization process could not be implemented on account of administrative uncertainty prevailing on the campus during the blast period and several months thereafter. Now that the university, after a long time, has got a regular VC and Pro-VC, university stakeholders expect a thorough cleansing of the campus. Some senior faculty members favour mandatory police verification of the boarders and employees of the security agency engaged by the university.