Students of Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, whose protest has entered day 10 are going on a hunger strike against the shuttle fee.

Students and researchers of this have been protesting for 10 days against an introduction of a fee for transportation provided by the university from their campus to a nearby hostel. The protesters said that they were asked to shell out Rs 8,500 for a distance of three kilometers and that students could not opt out of the facility.

On Wednesday, Sourav (name changed), one of the students said that they had started an indefinite hunger strike as a discussion with the registrar and vice chancellor at the university yielded no results.

However, amidst the chaos on campus, classes have continued while students have been attending the same as well.

On Tuesday, some protesters also said that their social media accounts and twitter handles were inaccessible, which they believed was an outcome of a social media campaign they started.

“The students had a meeting with the vice chancellor (Indu Prasad) also and submitted a memorandum. We were told that if we did not stop the protest with immediate effect, we would be forced off campus. There were no negotiations in this regard. We had to resort to a hunger strike after that,” said Anitha (name changed) another student.

Some students who had secured scholarships also said that they had to pay the shuttle fee. Many claimed that for those who had not paid, the money was deducted from their acceptance fees and assistantship.

Meanwhile, despite repeated attempts, the university has refused to issue a statement or reaction in this regard.

Also read: Students protest unreasonable shuttle fee at Azim Premji University