Intruders in Madras University ladies’ hostel trigger protest

Chennai: Unidentified men alleg­edly strayed into the Guindy campus of the Unive­rsity of Madras on Wedn­esday and attempted to sneak into the bat­h­ing area of the ladies’ hos­tels.

PG students and research scholars at the campus staged a demonstration after the incident, seeking increased security.

“What irked us was that when we went to the management, they shru­g­ged it off as tho­u­gh,” a female stude­nt, wh­­i­ch impelled the­ir pr­o­test.

Such int­ru­s­ions ha­d been occurring over the past month as the ca­m­pus has only a wre­ck­ed compound wall along the Gandhi Mandapam road, facilitating the entry of outsiders, a student said.

Security personnel were inadequate and the presence of a police station only a few metres away was no help either, she add­ed.

Madras university VC Prof.R.Thandavan la­ter promised the stud­e­n­ts that security measures would be put in place soon.

On Thur­s­d­ay, students again took up the lack of adequate infrastructural facilities on the campus.

Most of the university’s resea­r­ch papers came from st­u­dents on this campus, “But we are the ones who have been overlooked,” said a Ph.d student.

More than 3,000 students study at th­is campus but there are hostel facilities ava­il­able for only about 200, he said.

The bio-waste and other residues are disposed within the campus itself, which poses health hazards.

The protest demonstration, which lasted until 3 pm, was called off after the Registrar arrived and promised the students that adequate action on the infrastructure and security issues would be taken.