Siasat.com
Hyderabad: With the Telangana state government ratcheting up pressure on Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) to turn the campus into a COVID-19 quarantine facility, both the students’ and teachers’ unions are demanding the university’s authorities to refrain from doing so.
The MANUU Students’ Union (MANUU-SU) and Teachers’ Union (MANUU-TA) have written to the Vice Chancellor and Registrar respectively telling them not to hand over their premises for quarantining international travelers suspected of being afflicted with coronavirus.
The MANUU-TA’s letter to the VC lists many reasons against conceding to the state government’s demands. Among them were: 1) Proximity of students’ hostels, staff residential quarters, and various administrative as well as residential buildings that could further spread the virus, 2) Neighbouring residential buildings outside the campus, 3) The presence of staff residential quarters that include elderly people and children, 4) Unwillingness of students to return to buildings that housed inflicted patients.
Umar Faruq Quadri, MANUU-SU President, asked, “What about the students still on campus who could not afford the train or airplane ticket to return home? What will also happen to their belongings that they left behind in a haste owing to the ultimatum of vacating the campus by the 20th ?”
In to the Student Union’s letter to the registrar, the plight of many students, especially from far off places, was mentioned. Some of these students have nowhere else to go but the campus premises as their trains going up north were cancelled.
Although both bodies are supportive of national efforts to contain the coronavirus, they remain steadfast in lobbying the administration to prevent the campus from becoming a quarantine facility.