UoH Teachers’ Association condemns encroachment of campus, arrest of protesting students

Over the last few days, several student groups in the University of Hyderabad have been protesting against illegal encroachment on the campus. The University of Hyderabad Teachers’ Association has now also come forward to condemn the encroachment and has appealed to the state government to ensure the land is protected.

“There have been many struggles in the past by the university community to prevent the university land from being given away to other organisations. Keeping the vision of future growth of the university which provides affordable education to the society, it is the responsibility of the state government to protect the land from encroachment,” the UHTA said. The Association has appealed to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar to intervene for the protection of the land, “The land was granted with a vision of making the University a top-rated university at the global level. This land needs to be protected for the development of higher education in the State of Telangana,” the teachers stated. 

The Association states that a joint-action committee is likely to be formed consisting of faculty, students and non-teaching staff in order to continue the struggle for the transfer of land to the university. 

The teachers also condemned the arrest of the students who had protested against the encroachment and demanded that the police withdraw all the cases filed against the students ‘unconstitutionally’. They urged the administration to also ask the state government to fix the boundaries of the university land, “The administration should ask the government to grant the title deed of the land to the University. This not only ensures that the land would be saved from greedy private interests but also protects the precious biodiversity of the campus,” the UHTA office bearers said. 

The UHTA has urged the administration to appeal to the President, the Visitor of the University, the Governor of Telangana, the Rector of the University, the Chancellor of the University and also the Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission in this regard.