BENGALURU: Bangalore University will soon block entry of the public into its Jnana Bharathi campus.
The university took this decision in the wake of the rise in incidents of crime and also to ensure safety of students living on the campus. According to varsity officials, except the stretch of road which connects Mysore Road and Ring Road, all the other roads, including the one which connects Nagarabhavi from the National Law School of India University (NLS IU) side, will be closed after 6 pm. Students of NLSIU and other institutes, who are residing on the Jnana Bharathi campus, must produce their ID card to enter after 6pm.
Speaking to Express, BU Registrar (administration) Prof K N Ningegowda said, “We are also writing to the commissioner of BBMP about the closing of roads.” Recently, miscreants had chopped off sandalwood trees on the campus, and varsity officials have also received complaints from students that movement of people, especially vehicles, inside the campus at night disturbs their studies. “We need to take measures to maintain the academic atmosphere on the campus. We get complaints from students living in hostels on the campus that public entry is disturbing their studies. Not just disturbance, as we have hostels for girl students on the campus, it is a question of safety too. Considering all these, we have decided to stop allowing the public inside campus after 6pm,” Gowda explained.
Meanwhile,the university authorities are writing to heads of all institutes on Jnana Bharathi campus to follow this rule. “There are institutes like Sports Authority of India and National Law School of India University that need to use the roads inside the campus to commute. But we are writing to them to try to stick to the new rule,” he said.
Presently, the road from Nagarabhavi side (NLSIU gate) is open till 9 pm, but even that will be closed after 6pm from January. “We are closing the gate at
NLSIU side at 9 pm. But we received complaints from security people of the university that NLSIU students come late at night and demand entry. We will communicate this to the Vice-Chancellor of NLSIU,” Gowda said.
Jnana Bharathi is spread across 1,000 acres, and according to officials, it is difficult for them to keep tabs on every corner of the campus as most parts are thickly forested.
“Even if we increase the security and safety measures inside the campus, we cannot ensure safety till we stop vehicle movements inside the campus at night,” he said.