Keep general section of library open for 24 hours: SFI to HPU

The Himachal Pradesh University’s Students’ Federation of India (SFI) unit today staged a protest on the university campus over their demand to keep the general section of the library open for 24 hours every day.

During the protest, SFI activists raised concerns over the lack of a central heating system in the library, despite the university having allocated funds for it, as winter season had already begun.

Rinku, an SFI activist, said though the university had been in existence for over 55 years, yet students still had to struggle for basic amenities in hostels. He said students fight for basic hostel facilities was their fundamental right.

On the occasion, SFI campus co-secretary Naved lashed out at the university administration and said, “The university administration has ignored demands of students. The administration closed one of the hostels a few months ago for a geographic survey, but did not open it for students, leaving many without accommodation.”

Naved further said, “In recent years, the administration has only kept a few hostels open during winter holidays, restricting access to boarding and lodging facilities to most students. The SFI has consistently urged the administration to open all hostels for students during this period, but its requests have fallen on deaf ears. We believe that all hostels should remain open so that students can prepare for exams, such as NET.”

“Despite continuous efforts of the SFI to draw attention of the university administration towards these issues, no action has been taken in this connection,” he said.

The SFI has warned the university authorities to immediately fulfil demands of students or else the federation would intensify its stir.