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Academic activities at AU suspended indefinitely

By Correspondent

SILCHAR, May 3 - The authorities of the Assam University Silchar have suspended all the academic activities for an indefinite period following rising protests by students with demands to postpone even semester final examinations owning to difficulties faced by the students in preparing their lessons for the examinations because of erratic power supply after the recent cyclone that ripped across Silchar and its outskirts on April 28.

In a notification issued on Tuesday, the competent authority of the university has said: �All the academic activities of the university shall remain suspended with immediate effect until further orders. However, the examinations in Diphu and Haflong campuses of the university shall continue as per schedule.�

With this order coming into effect, the post-graduate, integrated examinations for even semester final examinations and the Integrated Pre-Ph D (IPP) examinations for this year scheduled from May 3 have now been postponed.

It may be mentioned here that people of Irongmara including varsity students staged a protest demanding restoration of power supply a few days ago following which the university authorities had suspended all the examinations of the five-year integrated and post-graduate courses scheduled to be held on May 2.

Sources from the university administration said that appeals were made to call off their protest since a number of students have received campus recruitment calls and have been waiting for the examinations to be over on time. Further, the university administration also gave options for students unable to appear in the examination on May 3 to appear in the examination at a later date after the summer vacation. But the protesting students were reluctant to respond, sources said.

Meanwhile, at least 13 students including seven girls were left with severe injuries after lathi-charge by police on Monday midnight together with rounds of rubber bullets fired to disperse the protesters who had allegedly detained the staff members of the varsity and some of the students for not responding to their demands. The injured are undergoing treatment at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital.

Amar Jyoti Khound, president of the varsity students� union said, �We oppose the notification and demand that the authorities must specify the dates of examinations and wrap up the examinations within May. Also, there must be a justifiable explanation why lathi-charge was ordered upon the students.�

Khound said that because of lesser accommodations in the university hostels, over 1000 students stay at Irongmara where there has been no power since the recent cyclone. �The hostels can accommodate only around 700 students. There are inadequate facilities for drinking water in the hostels for which we have been demanding solutions for a very long time. If adequate measures were taken, the situation would not have taken such a bitter turn,� he said.

On the other hand, police and officials from the Cachar district administration had to reach the university to pacify the protesting students.

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