Bhubaneswar: Tension erupted at Utkal University this evening after a group of non-students protested the decision of the hostel warden to drive them out of the varsity hostels.
Sources informed that the hostel wader had reportedly gone to the Gopabandhu Chhatrabasa (Gopabandhu Hostel) for an inspection this evening. In the meantime, some non-students protested him and allegedly locked him inside a room.
The protesters also purposeful disrupted the electricity supply to all the hostels of the University and locked the main gate with the aim not to allow the police and media persons to enter the university campus.
Though a team of cops from the Saheed Nagar Police station reached the entrance gate after getting information about the situation, they could not enter inside as some of the protesters allegedly hurled stones at them. Due to this, the police team along with the media persons reportedly returned back.
Meanwhile, the non-students demanded that the University authorities should first demolish the slums that have come up on the premises of the institution before driving them out of the hostels.
The non-students protest came just a day after the Warden of P. G. Hostels issued a notification urging all the individuals who have currently occupied rooms of Gents Hostel-I, Gents Hostel-ll, and Gents Hostel-III without proper authorization to vacate the rooms along with their belongings on or before September 4 as the rooms will be made available for allotment to the registered students.
In case they fail to comply with this directive, the authorities would take strict disciplinary action against them, the warden warned.
The P. G. Hostel Warden also further said that the students who have been allotted hostel accommodation are strictly advised not to (a) entertain unauthorized guests in their rooms (b) Sublet or sell their rooms to others. Any violation of the above instructions will lead to cancellation of studentship from the University, he cautioned.
