University students end sit-in over free vaccine demand in Kolkata

Kolkata: The Presidency University Students Council (PUSC) withdrew their 96-hour sit-in after the varsity authorities agreed to offer free vaccination to all students.

According to the PUSC office-bearer Adrija Adak, the authorities have issued a notice promising to start free vaccinations on campus as soon as possible in collaboration with the state government. Since free vaccination was the prerequisite for any on-campus academic activity, this was the main demand of the agitating students that was accepted by the administration of the state university, so the sit-in was ended on Friday evening after 96 hours.

The Dean of Students provided a table with the names of the first and second dose recipients of the vaccine and said, ‘the university will submit the details to higher education department within the due date.’ The university asked the student union to assist in collecting data; this is known as a rigorous data collection, and ‘we will co-operate and help the authority in every step of this process,’ Adak said.

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Also, the union has succeeded in getting its other demands met, such as the opening of libraries and the authority has released a notice about how students can obtain the required books on specific days of the week by visiting the university. The union, however, announced it will continue its initiative of reopening of the campus after its preparatory phases, such as vaccination, are completed. The union will be active in getting updates from the authority and will keep coming to the campus to ensure that the authority is continuing all the promised activities required to meet our demands,’ Adak said.

Vice-Chancellor Anuradha Lohia did not answer calls, but another Presidency University official said, ‘we are happy that students have withdrawn their sit-in which could have caused health risk in the pandemic situation.’ He said the university will be responsible for giving free vaccinations to all students and will decide the modalities very shortly.