Youth and College students demanding 25 p.c. quota

Several hundred students in government colleges across the city on Thursday boycotted classes and conducted a dharna in front of the Pondicherry Central University demanding the implementation of 25 per cent reservation of seats to the local students of Puducherry.

The students also urged the Union Minister for Human Resources Development to order a probe into alleged irregularities committed by the university.

On Thursday morning, gate protests were held in front of eight colleges. The student leaders of the Student Federation of India(SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) addressed the meetings.

Later, over 1,000 students took out a rally from Pondicherry Engineering College to the Pondicherry Central University administrative campus. 

The march was stopped by police posted at the entrance to the university premises. Several students tried to push forward even as police used force to keep them at bay. In the ensuing melee, some students managed to gate-crash into the premises. 

Around 20 protestors were arrested and released later in the evening. 

The students from Bharathidasan Government College for women, Tagore Arts College, Pondicherry University Community College, Motilal Nehru Government Polytechnic, Government Women’s Polytechnic College, Indira Arts and Science College, Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Arts and Science College, Rajiv Gandhi Arts College also participated. 

According to the students, when the Pondicherry Central University was established in 1985, the then authorities assured of employment opportunities to the family members of the agriculturalists who donated land for the establishment of university.

They also assured that 25 per cent reservation would be provided for students from Puducherry in all courses offered in the university.