GB Pant Engineering College students call off protest

The students were protesting for the past nine days outside the Vikas Bhawan over the issue and this included a five-day hunger strike by five of them.

Students of GB Pant Engineering College, who were demonstrating against non-inclusion of the institute in admission counselling by the IP University here, on Tuesday called off their protest, claiming that Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had assured them that he would intervene in the matter.

The students were protesting for the past nine days outside the Vikas Bhawan over the issue and this included a five-day hunger strike by five of them.

In joint statement, the students said that a three-member delegation of student activists called on the lieutenant governor.

Lt Governor Baijal “after hearing the grievances of the protesting students in a 20-minute-long meeting, promised to discuss the matter with the Delhi chief minister and give necessary directions to the Delhi education secretary to resolve the issue expeditiously,” they said in the statement.

“The nine-day sit-in outside Vikas Bhawan by students of GB Pant Engineering College against the non-inclusion of the educational institute in the counselling process for admission this year by the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University has concluded today after the assurance of the lieutenant governor of Delhi,” the statement said.

In March last year, the Delhi Cabinet had approved the construction of an integrated campus of the GB Pant Engineering College and Polytechnic at the Okhla Industrial Estate at an estimated cost of over Rs 520 crore.

However, there has been no official word on the college’s non-inclusion in the counselling process for admission, other than the announcement of plans to make it part of the yet-to-be-established Delhi Skills University.

The students in their statement also said that “after the meeting with the lieutenant governor and upon his request, the protest committee unanimously decided in favour of concluding the nine-day protest that had been running non-stop since November 2”.

“The student protestors resolved to continue to remain vigilant to ensure the fulfilment of their demands. The future course of action will remain contingent on the implementation of the steps required to safeguard affordable higher education in the national capital,” the statement said.