Students group threatens I-Day celebration boycott in Jammu

A students' group in Jammu on Sunday threatened to boycott the official Independence Day celebrations and asked the state government to give in writing that the proposed central university would be set up in Jammu.

A students' group in Jammu on Sunday threatened to boycott the official Independence Day celebrations and asked the state government to give in writing that the proposed central university would be set up in Jammu.

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The Central University Andolan Samiti (CUAS) floated by the students has also called for a complete shutdown in Jammu on Monday over "vague" statements by the state government on setting up the central university near Jammu.

The shutdown call comes even as the Omar Abdullah government last Wednesday said the first central university in Jammu and Kashmir will come up in Jammu. There was simmering discontent among student organisations in the town who were protesting the government's reported move to shift the varsity site to the Kashmir Valley.

Sunil Sethi, a CUAS leader, said, "The government should give in writing that it will set up the central university in Jammu first."

"If the written commitment will not come by Aug 15, we will give a call for boycott of the official Independence Day function and hold a parallel function of our own at Jammu University campus," Sethi said.

After the union government announced that a central university will be established in Jammu and Kashmir, the state government had identified a place close to Samba, 40 km from Jammu, for the site of the institution.

But later, there was a proposal to shift it to the Kashmir Valley, triggering a series of demonstrations here by student groups.