WB's Visva Bharati Uni temporarily closed after vandalism; wants miscreants to compensate

Santiniketan’s Visva Bharati university witnessed incidents of vandalism after it decided to construct a boundary wall near Mela Ground which belongs to the university. After witnessing violent protests, the university on Monday decided to temporarily close its campus.

A large number of protestors, reportedly locals headed by Trinamool Congress leaders, demolished two of the university’s gates and vandalised the construction material which was stocked up to be used to build the wall.  

The University on Monday stated that the miscreants responsible in connection with the incident of vandalism should be booked immediately and compensation of losses should be recovered from them.

"Those who were engaged in the vandalism in the campus need to be booked immediately and stern action must be taken against them so that such occurrences do not take place in the future," Assistant Registrar, In-charge of Public Relations, Visva Bharati stated in a release. 

"The University's loss to be compensated from the miscreants immediately on the basis of the calculations made by an agency deployed by the MHRD or any other agency that the MHRD deems appropriate," the release further read.

Eight people have been arrested in connection with the incident, Superintendent of Police (SP) Birbhum, Shyam Singh said on Monday.

"Despite an application to the SDO for imposing of Section 144 CrPC in the specified area around the Mela Ground, no action has been taken. If Section 144 CrPC was imposed, vandalism may have been avoided," Assistant Registrar, In-charge of Public Relations, Visva Bharati stated.

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The issue

The Mela ground where the construction was to be started is used to hold an annual fair named 'Poush Mela' in December. The fair draws thousands of people and is also a source of revenue for locals during the period. The people opposed the construction of the wall, however, the vice-chancellor decided to go ahead with the construction in order to stop the entry of outsiders. Last year, vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty even removed some of the temporary shops which continued to do business even after the fair was over.

The Visva Bharti University in West Bengal's Birbhum district is a centrally-funded autonomous university with 10 sub- institutes. It is the only central university in the state.

Reacting on the situation, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that she doesn't want construction at the site "which will spoil the nature's beauty."

"I request Vice-Chancellor to consult DM (District Magistrate) and SP (Superintendent of Police). There should not be such things in Bengal, which will destroy the culture and heritage of Bengal," she said.

(With ANI inputs)

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