Thursday, April 1, 2010

Propaganda worries Nehu VC - Tandon promises security

Shillong, March 31: North Eastern Hill University vice-chancellor Pramod Tandon today expressed concern over the “misinformation campaign” spread by teachers regarding Nehu’s functioning.

He also said the appointment of two new professors as heads of two departments was in order and the university was committed to provide security to its staff and students.

Tandon’s comments came amid fresh allegations by the North Eastern Hill University Teachers Association that the university had hurriedly appointed two new professors, B. Bhuyan and L.J. Singh, as heads in the departments of information technology and electronics and communication respectively.

The previous heads of these departments, Iftekar Hussain and S.K. Dutta, had resigned after they were assaulted by Khasi Students Union activists for conducting examinations on a local holiday on December 30 last year.

Tandon told The Telegraph today that he had met Hussain and Dutta on December 31 along with other top functionaries of Nehu and expressed regret over the incident. He had asked them to re-consider their decision.

Regarding the complaints of the staff that Nehu did not take the assault on teachers seriously, Tandon said the university had taken responsibility for the incident.

He expressed concern over the move of some teachers, led by the president of the teachers association, S.B. Prasad, to prevent the new heads from functioning.

He said frequent disturbances in Nehu by the joint action committee, comprising teaching and non-teaching staff, had resulted in the university being unable to spend Rs 10 crore allotted for the technology department in March. He also said several members had come out of the committee, as they were not satisfied with its functioning.

Stressing on the need for co-operation, Tandon said Nehu’s budget had increased from Rs 12 crore to over Rs 123 crore during his tenure and he did not want any disturbance from any quarter to mar the functioning of the university.

Nehu registrar David Syiemlieh had recently written to the teachers association regarding the steps taken to provide safety and security to the university.

Syiemlieh, who is also the controller of examinations, said top functionaries of the university had met the affected teachers and students after the incident. The matter was also discussed by the executive council which requested the two teachers to continue.

Syiemlieh said the subsequent examinations held in the beginning of this year proved that the university had provided adequate security.

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