NEW DELHI: Students at the Centre for Historical Studies (CHS) at JNU on Friday alleged that the administration is shutting down the centre’s library that houses important books and documents. They raised concerns after the administration put up a board for the Special Centre for Tamil Students outside the library.
However, the JNU VC Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit speaking to this correspondent said that it is just the relocation. She said, “It is misinformation and it is a unanimous decision of the Executive Council which is being implemented. UGC gave the building to the University. Many centres and schools have earlier had their space re-allotted. Why the protest now? It has been the practice of JNU since its inception,” the VC said.
Taking to social media, Saib Bilawal, one of the students, tweeted, “The JNU admin has decided to shut down the History department library & turn it into a special centre for Tamil studies. despite having received 5 (delivered)/10 crore rupees from Tamil Nadu Govt to establish & construct mentioned centres somewhere on campus. #SaveCHSLibrary.”
The CHS Student Community on Friday also wrote a letter to the VC demanding to stop the process of relocation. The letter said “The CHS Library is not merely a collection of History books; it also serves as a documentation centre. The library houses over 18,000 books, hundreds of PhD theses, and rare journals.”