HYDERABAD: In a surprising development on Monday, Osmania University announced that all the hostels and messes on the campus will be shut from Tuesday till Jan15. The development comes in the backdrop of the recent unrest witnessed in the university following the suicide of MSc Physics student, E Murali in the campus hostel. Due to the protests, semester exams of some PG courses were postponed to January 21.Incidentally, OU is hosting 105th Indian Science Congress January 3-7. The Congress will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, over 20 Nobel laureates and other high profile dignitaries are expected to attend the event.
In a circular released on Monday the university said that in a meeting chaired by the Vice-Chancellor with the Principals of constituent colleges, it was decided to close the hostels and messes for PG students from Tuesday till January 15. However, the circular announcing sudden closing down of hostels and messes did not go down well with the student leaders.
Jeevan Kumar, a student leader of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in OU said, “Telangana government is afraid of the students because it has not delivered on its promise of providing one lakh jobs. Hence it does not want the students to stay on campus during the Indian Science Congress which will be attended by the PM and the CM.”
“Last time when the CM was on campus on the occasion of Osmania University’s centenary celebrations the students did not allow him to speak. Tomorrow(Tuesday) we are organizing a protest demanding that the government release 1.25 lakh job notifications, provide job to Murali’s brother and also against the circular issued by the university,” added the ABVP leader in the campus.