After the Utkal University campus of Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar, Bhanja Bihar, the seat of the Berhampur University, is passing through yet another round of serious student unrest ahead of the Students’ Union elections scheduled to be held on October 8.
Tension prevailed at Bhanja Bihar following an exchange of hot words between two groups of students and nonstudents on late Wednesday night. The district authorities have deployed one platoon of police in the campus. The university administration is now contemplating to cancel election in order to restore peace in the campus, sources said.
It may be noted that the authorities of the Utkal University and Ravenshaw University have decided not to conduct elections on identical grounds.
A cold war between two groups of students and nonstudents is continuing at Bhanja Bihar reportedly at the behest of some insiders since the new Vice-Chancellor joined in August. Sources reveal that immediately after the Wednesday night scuffle between the two groups of students, four of them had reportedly submitted their complaints against each other to the Chairman of the PG Council.
As a sequel to this, while a IRPM student Somanath Patra along with some of his associates was on his way to the Rushikulya PG Hostel at around 1 am, some students along with nonstudents reportedly attacked him and looted cash of Rs 2,000 from him. Patra sustained injuries and one of his hands was fractured as per his complaint.
On the other hand, the other group has also made a similar complainant alleging that some students and nonstudents attacked Tofan Kumar Sethi, a student of another department in which he was injured.
Following the incidents, the university authorities forwarded the complaints of both the groups to the Gopalpur police station for necessary action as per the recommendations of the discipline committee and hostel committee made at their meeting held on Thursday, sources said.
Ironically, some victims of the incident are the aspirants for the post of president of the Students’ Union.
The police entered the campus and started patrolling. Some nonstudents, who are said to be the root cause of the turmoil, managed to flee from the campus, sources said.
It may be mentioned that the university went through similar student unrest twice during last one month on the pretext of non-receipt of invitation by the hostel boarders to a blood donation camp organised in the campus and on the alleged removal of banners (which were displayed welcoming freshers) by the rival group.
Such trouble was apprehended and published in The Pioneer, but it was unheeded by the university administration and law and order authorities. Staff members are scared not to open their mouth apprehending action, but the ground reality suggests that there is a network working against the present administrative regime for destabilisation of the university system.
According to an observer, such incidents are deliberately being created to put full stop on some serious graft charges for which an inquiry is going on against some officials reportedly under the directions of the Chancellor.
According to intellectuals, most of the incidents in the university campus are taking place at the behest of some key functionaries of the university and the rival groups are using students as weapons to settle scores. According to sources, some predecessors who were in the helm of university administrative affairs have created several groups of miscreants and favoured groups and are funding them to dance to their tunes as and when needed.
This is evident from the fact that some students who misbehaved with the present VC in his chamber last week and described him as anti-student reportedly told some staff members,” After the election, we will make such situations as to see that the present VC would go.” It is quite clear that a section of students acts at the behest of their gurus and funders.
If the police and Crime Branch collect impartial intelligence inputs on one-to-one contact with different beneficiaries of the university system, the truth about all these incidents would be unfolded, said an insider.
Sources also suggest that some nonstudents are paid protection money not only by the vested groups and some key functionaries of the university but also by some local elected representatives.
According to information, around 30 to 40 nonstudents, mostly hailing from Gopalpur and Chhatrapur areas, are staying in the various PG hostels unauthorised for years being patronised by some key university functionaries.
Why the university administration is scared of making periodical checks and taking action against the intruders, questioned an employee.