Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has reached out to the Union Government for funds to build boundary walls to curb trespassing, said Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit. Santishree said the work is also underway to install CCTVs in public places, including hostel gates, to improve safety on the campus.
Security has always been a concern at the university, with incidents of vandalism and violence, especially against women, having been reported often. Speaking to media, Santishree claimed that no “major” incident compromising the safety and security of the students and teachers on the campus has taken place since she took rein in the centrally funded university.
#WATCH | Delhi: On JNU’s Institute of Eminence tag, JNU Vice Chancellor Prof. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit says, "Last year, we again reapplied. We are making our special case to the Ministry of Education and they're considering it very favourably. We are asking for eminence… pic.twitter.com/93HRSDgmFl
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“You see, (JNUSU) elections are coming. So you will hear more and more such things (about violence) because I think in elections, every side will have competing things, but really, I’m told by the Security Committee of teachers and others. We have not had a major incident,” she said.
“We are asking the government of India to give us money for the wall. You know we are a campus of nearly 2,000 acres, and there are a lot of areas where our wall has broken down, so we have people who cannot only enter from the gates; they can even enter from those areas, and it’s all forest area,” she added.
In addition to government help, the university is also looking at CSR funds and help from alumni associations to enhance security and improve infrastructure. Though security has beefed up on the campus in recent years, some incidents of vandalism and violence have still been reported.
In December, slogans demanding the rebuilding of Babri Masjid surfaced on the walls of the Language Study Centre at JNU. “We can’t have human security, you know, petrol in every part. So we are also looking at CSR funds and other things for repairing our walls and other things,” the VC stated.
Despite the protest from a section of students over the installation of cameras, the vice chancellor is of the view that CCTV is the best solution to keep an eye on illegal activity on the campus.
“We were saying last year we’re putting in scan cameras. We have convinced students the best talker is their mobile because, with Wi-Fi, they can ignore everything for free. So I told them this was dangerous. They will scan cameras, or we will see if somebody comes in, right?” she mentioned.
(with inputs from ANI)
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