Several students from the Delhi University “occupied” the gate of the Vishwavidyalaya metro station for around two hours on Thursday demanding the immediate rollback of the Metro fare hike and introduction of a student’s concessional metro pass.
The students blocked Gate number 3 of the metro station. ‚ÄúWe will occupy the gate till somebody from the Central government or DMRC gives us an assurance that fare hike will be rolled back. Until then, we won‚Äôt move from here,‚Äù said Kawalpreet Kaur from The All India Student’s Association (AISA), who called the protest, “Occupy Vishwavidyalaya”.
CISF personnel and police force had been deployed at the venue to control the mob. Seeing their demand of meeting a representative of the Delhi metro not being addressed, the students blocked the Ring Road to which the police retaliated using force.
A Delhi Metro representative finally met the students and accepted a memorandum listing their demands. The students have warned of further huge protests and of approaching the Chief Minister and Prime Minister.
Hike in Metro fares, which continues to be the saviour of almost every student has resulted into a tremendous disaster. It is not for the first time that such a protest has occurred. Concessional metro passes have been on the election manifesto of every students’ association,on a perpetual basis.
