Student activists seek 80 % SC quota in hostels,23 detained

“There were 273 hostels for backward class students across the state. Later,the state government started 100 new hostels on district level and seven at the zone level for backward class students. These hostels are under Social Welfare and Justice Department and are for Scheduled Caste students,however there is a reservation of 20 per cent for students from Scheduled Tribes(ST),Nomadic Tribes(NT) and Other Backward classes (OBC). The government had,on May 16,decided to reserve 80 per cent seats in these hostels for SC students. However,a few days later,Moghe stayed this 80 per cent reservation in old 273 hostels. This means the provision of 80 per cent reservation will only be applicable for the 107 new hostels. We strongly condemn the decision taken by Moghe,” said Kishore Jagtap,founder member of Vidhyarthi Bharti. The activists have also demanded 10 new hostels for OBC students in the state.

The activists have now sought a discussion with Moghe on the issue. “Moghe has now agreed to meet us to discuss the matter. We want to resolve this issue at the earliest,” added Jagtap.

“We have also demanded that the state government should release the non-salary grant of Marathi schools. The state government has not disbursed the non-salary grants of Marathi schools since 2004. Due to this,students and their parents are suffering as schools are charging exorbitant fees,” said Pooja Badekar,Vidhyarthi Bharti president.

“We had detained 23 students for protesting outside Vidhan Bhavan. They included 13 boys and 10 girls. We had booked them under Bombay Police Act,1956. They were later released on bail,” said Senior Inspector Z M Gharal.