Concerns over outsider entry and safety during Jadavpur University fests.
Times of India | 26 March 2025
12 Kolkata: In the season of unrest, fest visitors add to the ‘outsiders' problem in JU as they pose a serious threat to teachers and students moving safely inside the campus. Jadavpur University teachers and students raised concerns over the random entry of outsiders and encroachment by stalls during the fest from afternoon till late at night. This hinders the academic environment on the campus, creates obstacles for movement, and many "undesirable" situations occur on the campus premises.
The Science Faculty Students' Union organised their annual fest ‘Sanskriti' last week. The engineering faculty is scheduled to conduct their fest from April 1 to 10, followed by a fest by the arts faculty students' union.
JUTA submitted a letter to the interim Vice-Chancellor Bhaskar Gupta on Tuesday, highlighting the problems that teachers, staff, and students, especially disabled students, face during fests. "It became very difficult to travel within the university premises…many uncomfortable situations were created and in some cases, the teachers had to step in to avoid escalation," read the JUTA's letter.
JUTA Assistant General Secretary Rajyeswar Sinha said, "On Friday, a car nearly brushed past a mechanical engineering teacher inside the campus. It was speeding. The car was chased and stopped by security guards on bikes. The two outsiders were handed over to the police. Another unpleasant situation occurred when an outsider said something objectionable to a sociology student. I was there and handled the situation."
An undergraduate history department student said, "During the fest, entries of outsiders are more than usual, but unfortunately there is no system to regulate it. As students, we feel unsafe on the campus as we have seen that random outsiders engage in unsocial activities on campus. Recently, the university implemented that one needs to furnish an ID card for entry between 7 pm and 7 am, but during fest days, these have not been maintained."
The Forum for Students with Disabilities (FSD), JU, raised objections to the indiscriminate putting up of stalls encroaching on their normal movement, the use of loudspeakers till late at night, and the random entry of two-wheelers and four-wheelers. FSD member and postgraduate Bengali department student Subhadip Mandal said, "It has become a yearly ritual now. Every year we raise objections, but we do not see any remedy. We live in fear during the fest as outsiders with bikes and cars often drive in an unrestricted manner. The stalls are put up in a way that poses a challenge for our mobility. It is a failure on the part of the authorities."
Electrical engineering department teacher and JUTA member Arindam Sil said that the teachers' body made it clear to the authority that if the administration does not take any positive steps, they will take drastic action. "Normal lives of our colleagues, who reside inside the campus, are disturbed due to these activities. We need random checks at vulnerable areas to tackle outsiders and undesirable situations. If authorities think that they will implement measures without having sufficient security personnel, then everything will fall through."
According to security head Mukul Das, controlling the entry of outsiders during the fest is a challenge as they have a skeletal workforce. "It became impossible for security guards to check ID cards and allow entry as there was so much crowd. Moreover, fest organisers request us to relax regulations during these days." He added that with 85 security guards on average, it is impossible to maintain the safety and security of the campus on any given day. "During the fest, we need more workforce as we need to stay awake and be alert to counter unsocial and undesirable activities," Das shared.
Interim VC Bhaskar Gupta said, "The security personnel must ensure that the measures are strictly followed despite their skeletal staff strength."
**BOX**
**Rules:**
- Students need to show ID cards while entering the campus between 7 pm to 7 am.
- Those without JU ID cards need to furnish other valid ID cards.
- Vehicles (two-wheeler and four-wheelers) without JU stickers will have to fill in details at the register before entering.
**Rules not maintained during the fest:**
- Security guards said it was not possible to check ID cards while letting people in.
- Four-wheelers did not sign registers.
- Signing by two-wheelers has not yet begun as the number is huge and security guards are fewer. MSID:: 119488057 413 |