Students left in lurch as owner locks building

Education Department not paid rent for last 17 months

The Department of PU education has taken a private building on a monthly rent of Rs 30,000. However, the department has not paid rent for the last 17 months. This forced the building owner to lock the building. The aggrieved students under the banner of Student Federation of India staged a rasta roko on Salagame road. Later, they went in a procession urging the government demanding a permanent college building for them.

They gathered at the disputed land despite a fight between the department and Management of Maland Educational Committee over the ownership of the land. They opened the gates put around the disputed land and sat in dharna. The lecturers took classes in the open ground for sometime.

On information, MLA H S Prakash came to the spot and extended his support for the students. When the situation was about to go out of control, the trust members B K Manjunath and P S Venkateshmurthy came there for discussion. At this stage, a wordy duel ensued between them and the MLA.

Manjunath threatened to launch a counter agitation by involving engineering and law students. Even, the MLA also challenged that he too would launch a strike with the help of PU students.

The irate students damaged the lock of the gates of disputed land. The students withdrew their protest after the trust members promised to allow officials to survey the disputed land.

Amidst all these developments, the contractor marked the boundary for the foundation work. MLA Prakash told Deccan Herald that he appeal to the owner of private building to allow conducting classes at least till the permanent building is ready. If he refuses to heed, classes will be conduced in open ground on the disputed land.