After the government promised to provide free vaccination to all students, the Presidency University Students Council (PUSC) called off their 96-hour sit-in.
KOLKATA: After the varsity administration promised to provide free vaccination to all students, the Presidency University Students Council (PUSC) called off their 96-hour sit-in. According to PUSC office-bearer Adrija Adak, the authorities sent a notification pledging to begin free vaccinations on campus as soon as possible in conjunction with the state government.
Since free vaccination for all students was a requirement for beginning any on-campus academic activity, this was the main demand of the agitating students, which was accepted by the state university administration, and thus the sit-in at the portico was withdrawn after 96 hours on Friday evening, according to Adak.
In the notification, the Dean of Students attached a table with a list of vaccination recipients for the first and second doses, and stated that “the university would submit the data to the higher education department within the required deadline.” In this respect, the university has asked the students union to assist the authority in gathering information, i.e. thorough data collecting, and “we will co-operate and assist the authority in every stage of this process,” according to Adak.
Other requests of the union have been satisfied, such as the opening of libraries, and the authority has published a notice outlining the method by which students may come to the university and obtain the needed books on specific days of the week. The union, on the other hand, stated that it will continue its wider campaign to reopen the campus, which will take place when the necessary preparations, such as immunisation, are finished.
“The union will actively seek updates from the authority and will continue to visit the campus to ensure that the authority is carrying out all of the promised operations to satisfy our requests,” Adak added.
While Vice-Chancellor Anuradha Lohia did not return calls, a Presidency University official stated, “We are pleased that students have withdrawn their sit-in, which might have posed a health concern in the pandemic situation.” He stated that the university will be responsible for providing each student with a free vaccination and that the institution will make a decision on the modalities as soon as possible.