NUSRL Ranchi students hold protest over water contamination

A protest broke out on campus at the National University of Research and Law, Ranchi (NUSRL) on Sunday evening after students spotted dead cockroaches in the mess water cooler and a dead pigeon in the main water tank.

The protest started brewing at about 8 PM yesterday evening and went on till 2 AM. The gathering witnessed over 500 students of the University putting forth their demands for safer living conditions on the premises.

The Registrar called for a meeting with the students today at 11 AM to address their concerns. However, due to the unsatisfactory response from the administration, the protests continued till 6 PM today.

A student from the University said that requests for covering the water tanks were made exactly a month ago. They were assured by the Registrar that the same had already been taken care of.

Students also highlighted several other concerns at the University, including the marking scheme, the attendance policy, lack of academic and healthcare facilties, as well as an undertaking they were made to sign stating that they would not engage in any protests against the administration.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Ashok Patil mentioned that the water tanks and coolers have been cleaned after the incident came to light. He denied the existence of any student protests breaking out.

"Everything is okay, unfortunately a pigeon entered the water tank due to thunderstorms, but it has all been cleaned now, and all the covers of the water tanks have been replaced. There was no hunger strikes or protests, only some students came to discuss this with us after which action was taken to remedy the situation..."

We also wrote to the University administration with snapshots of the student protest, but received no response to the email at the time of publication of this story.

The students have made the following demands -

1. A written commitment regarding refund of mess, internet and reading material fee, as these facilties were not provided to students

2. Show cause notice to all faculties involved in anti-student activities

3. Removal of anti-protest declaration from admission forms

4. Immediate redressal steps for water cooler cleaning in hostel and mess

5. Removal of 70% attendance rule in each subject till more transparent system for accounting attendance is in place

6. Option to opt out of mess

7. Extra curricular attendance leave in addition to medical leave

8. Initiation of constitution of interim student body

9. Notification of non-negotiable student visiting hours for VC Office

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