After Holi hooliganism, Panjab University to raise boundary wall’s height to 7 feet
While Panjab University was closed on Friday and only Gate Number 2 was open for checking, some outsiders were seen scaling the wall from the road between Sector 14 and 15 in places where the existing barbed wire has gaps
Following videos of Holi celebration on March 14, which showed outsiders jumping over the wall through gaps in the barbed wire near Panjab University’s Gate Number 2 to enter the campus, the university is considering increasing the height of the boundary wall all around the north campus.
Apart from raising the wall’s height to a uniform seven feet across the campus, the varsity is also mulling addition of two to three feet of barbed wire
While Panjab University was closed on Holi and only Gate Number 2 was open for checking, some outsiders were seen scaling the wall from the road between Sector 14 and 15 in places where the existing barbed wire has gaps.
The incident raised security concerns as VIP guests, including President of India, Vice-President of India and multiple political leaders, have visited PU in recent days.
PU chief of university security (CUS) Vikram Singh said, “We have gone over the videos. We have submitted a proposal to the construction branch of Panjab University to increase the height of the boundary wall and install barbed wire on the entire wall. Currently, we have submitted the proposal for north campus, but we will do something similar for south campus as well.”
While the proposal will need to be accepted and work will start after tendering and due process, Singh said he was hopeful that by next year’s Holi, the project will be completed.
This is not the first time that such a proposal has been made. Dean students’ welfare Amit Chauhan said, “Last year also we had submitted a proposal to the UT administration to increase the height of the boundary wall, but we didn’t receive any favourable response. We had proposed to do this for south campus, as many female hostellers stay there.”
Regarding the events after Holi, Chauhan added that PU also needed to take up the matter with the UT administration, and while the proposal was being deliberated upon, CCTV cameras needed to be installed in the meantime at any such vulnerable points identified around PU.
Meanwhile, no action has been initiated against the miscreants who jumped the wall on March 14. While PU security has also not taken any action or identified the individuals, police officials at the Sector 11 station said since PU was an academic institution, a case of trespassing cannot be made out in this case.
