PUDUCHERRY: Students of the Indira Gandhi Government Arts and Science College (IGGASC) on Monday boycotted classes and sat on a dharna on the premises at Kadirkamam demanding a permanent building to house the college.
The college, which was started in 2002-2003 on the premises of the Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Kadirkamam, which in itself houses around 1,000 students, continues to function there till date. Around 10-12 rooms of the school had been taken over by the college and schoolkids have been forced to study on the veranda and a multi-purpose hall.
Despite the college now having a strength of nearly 500 students in the five departments of foreign trade, microbiology, statistics, biotechnology and computer science and applications, classes are still being conducted on the old premises, said Anand of the Students Federation of India, who led the protest. “Not only is there the problem of space constraint and sharing of basic facilities with the school, the premises is also becoming unsafe. Last year, during the rains, the compound wall collapsed. Though the government had acquired 6.5 acres of land adjoining the college for construction of the college in 2005, work is yet to begin,” he said.
Despite an assurance by the Chief Minister last year nothing has come forth yet, he added. Meanwhile, the government continues to cite constraints of funds for going ahead with the project.