JNU students continue protest over fee hike despite assurance by HRD minister

New Delhi:Protesting students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University clashed with the police, jumped barricades on Monday as police used water cannon to disperse the agitating students.

The students took to streets to protest against the steep hike in hostel fee in the JNU.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police said the situation was under control  and it was in contact with the students and the JNU authorities.

However, JNU students continued their protest over several issues, hostel fee hike being one of them. The agitation is against the hostel manual,  restrictions by the administration, curfew timings. The students have also said that the protests will not be called off until the  hostel manual is taken back.

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' has assured the agitating students of JNU of finding a solution to the fee hike issue.According to the protestors,  their request to discuss the hike has been turned down by the university  authorities.The protest follows the hostel fee hike that went up by 300 per cent and is likely to affect a majority of the students.

In view of the protest, police presence was stepped up in the area and the students were stopped as they tried to head towards the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) where Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu had gone for  the third convocation ceremony.

Traffic flow was also affected due to the protest at the roads adjoining JNU campus area. Rent for student single room has been hiked from Rs 10 to Rs 300 and for student double room to Rs 600 from Rs 20. Besides, the one-time refundable mess security deposit has also been increased to Rs 12,000 from the existing Rs 5,500.(UNI)