Allahabad University: Students protesting fee hike gheraoed VC on November 28

The Allahabad University (AU) Vice-Chancellor was gheraoed by the students today, November 28. This is in continuation of their 83-day-long protest against the varsity's proposed fee hike for the current academic year. The students have been demanding a rollback of the hike.

The protesters, led by student leader Ajay Yadav Samrat, gheraoed VC Sangeeta Srivastava when she was moving towards her car after leaving the office. Police, deployed on the campus due to the ongoing protests, and the administration officials, controlled the situation and made way for Srivastava, as per a report by PTI.

The agitating students also got into a heated argument with Harsh Kumar, the varsity's Proctor, during the protest. Samrat alleged that even though the students had been agitating against the fee hike for long, the Vice-Chancellor has not even listened to their demands.

A group of students have been sitting on a hunger strike and on November 16, they took out a Jan Aakrosh March protesting against the fee hike. They gathered at the students' union building for the march, holding posters and raising slogans.

"Besides the demand for withdrawal of the fee hike, the students have also launched an agitation against the illegal appointment of Vice-Chancellor Sangeeta Srivastava," Samrat had then stated. They have alleged that the fees for undergraduate courses, which were Rs 975 a year, have been hiked over 300 per cent to Rs 4,151, as per PTI.