Student protest: RU administration relents, central library to remain open for 19 hours

Jaipur: Bowing to the aggressive protest by students, the Rajasthan University (RU) administration on Monday night announced that the central library would remain open for 19 hours, instead of 12 hours. Student unions including NSUI agreed to end the agitation after the central library timing was extended. The library will now remain open from 5 am to 12 midnight.

Earlier, the library used to remain open 24 hours a day, but the administration announced on June 5 that the time period will be reduced to 12 hours and the library will remain open from 9 am to 9 pm. The students started protesting. Some students set on an indefinite fast. The police rounded up some students and forcefully removed them from outside the library on Sunday. The RU administration’s orders with regard to the library timing were to come into effect on Tuesday. However, the students locked the library and staged a sit-in.

The police resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the crowd. Nearly 24 students were detained.

The Rajasthan University officials held talks with the student leaders when they threated to intensify the agitation on Wednesday.

“We discussed the concerns of the students and decided that the library would remain open for 19 hours, from 5 am to 12 midnight. We would use the remaining time for cleaning the library and keeping things in order,” said an RU administration officer.

Congress spokesperson Pratap Singh Khachariawas criticized the use of force on students by the police.

“The decision to keep the library closed for 12 hours was wrong,” Khachariawas said.

Many believe that the protest was an exercise to get exposure for many student leaders as the RU student union elections are round the corner. The election will likely take place in August.