Birbhum (West Bengal): Fearing further violence which erupted on the grounds of West Bengal's Visva Bharti University a month before, on Monday the University authorities have urged the government for imposition of Section 144.
As the construction work on Poushmela ground started again, university authorities urged the district magistrate and superintendent of police of Birbhum district to impose Section 144 to tackle any untoward incident.
Activities pertaining to the fencing off of the Poush Mela ground by the Visva Bharati in Shantiniketan finally began on Monday as the authorities started erecting the boundary wall around the fairground.
The decision was taken on the basis of an instruction given by the four-member committee of the Calcutta High Court on Sunday after a meeting with the district administration and the university authorities.
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An incident took place last month when a large number of local people stormed into the Poush Mela ground, demolished the iron gate, damaged the construction materials, and vandalised a pandal.
The mob went on a rampage protesting against the construction of the boundary wall at the Poush Mela ground that belongs to Visva Bharati authorities.
In the wake of vandalism and violent protests, the Visva Bharati administration announced that the university will remain shut until the situation improved. The varsity has written a letter to the District Magistrate seeking imposition of IPC Section 144 in the campus to prevent ‘unlawful assembly.’
According to varsity sources, the Visva Bharati authorities decided to scrap Poush Mela for its ‘bitter experience’ with the local traders in the last two years while organising the fair.
There have been tussles between the authorities and local traders and artisans in the past for making the latter comply with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) guidelines.
