Kathmandu, January 9:

Tribhuvan University Victims’ Struggle Committee (TUVSC) today said they could resort to Valley bandh if their peaceful protest failed to draw the authorities’ attention for the fulfilment of their demands.

Talking to this daily, Birendra Shakya, TUVSC member, said that the university had failed to address their demands despite their staging various protest programmes in a peaceful manner.

“We protested to let TU know the inconvenience facing Kirtipur locals. Since it fell on deaf ears, we are likely to put it more strongly to provide justice to the town dwellers,” said Shakya.

The agitators have been carrying on a door-to-door campaign to make the public aware of the issue and to justify their demands. Shakya said, “We are starting a signature campaign tomorrow and will submit our collective appeal to the Prime Minister along with a memorandum.”

While, a joint press statement issued by former Vice Chancellors of TU said that the kind of vandalism from different organisations in the university premises should be stopped immediately.

The statement read, “Activities such as going on a strike, padlocking the university, organising sit-in, university gherao, torching the furniture should be immediately stopped and the university premises should be declared a zone of peace.”

“Development of TU is crucial for achieving the desired result from higher education in Nepal,”

said the statement, adding, “The government should ensure supportive budget, management, governance, academic environment and autonomy for the university.”

The former VCs have also appealed to all concerned, including political parties and their student wings, to help the university sort out the problems and let it work independently on organisational and educational matters.

Student unions’ call to resolve impasse

KATHMANDU: Ten student unions have called on Tribhuvan University to address the genuine demands put forth by Kirtipur locals. In a joint statement, the unions said they were ready to negotiate the talks between the victims’ struggle committee and the university. They have urged for a timely remedy for the problems saying that the impasse had plagued teaching learning activities at the university. The unions also asked the government to resolve the issue as soon as possible. — HNS