SFI activists protest fee hike

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 28

Hundreds of SFI activists today protested in front of the Vidhan Sabha demanding an increase in the budget and grant-in-aid to Himachal Pradesh University (HPU). SFI state secretary Chander Kant Verma accused the state government of overburdening students by hiking the fee.

The activists, who protested for about three hours till the Assembly was adjourned, said the government should increase the budgetary allocation in the interest of poor students. They accused the HPU of not making the report of the three-member committee on fee hike public. The protesters demanded that the fee should be rolled back and RUSA abolished. SFI leader Noval Thakur said the choice-based semester system implemented under RUSA had resulted in uncertainty over the future of thousands of students.

Claiming that nominated Students Central Association was a joke with students’ rights and democracy, they demanded restoration of the SCA elections and asked how the students nominated by the administration would be able to take a stand against the administration.