Ring Road jammed after lathi-charge on JNU students

South Delhi on Monday witnessed massive traffic snarls as Jawaharlal Nehru University students occupied a part of Ring Road near Bhikaji Cama Place after Delhi police lathi-charged the students when they tried to deviate from the approved route.

Several ambulances were struck in the long queue of vehicles which tried to pass through the narrow strip of the road leading towards Dhauala Kuan.

There are several hospitals along Ring Road, including AIIMS, Safdarjung and Moolchand hospitals.

The police lathicharged the protesting students, who were marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan to press for their demands. The police action came when the students tried to break through the barricades put up in south Delhi's Bhikaji Cama Place area.

In the morning security forces had sealed all JNU gates to stop the march. However, hundreds of students marched out of the campus after members of the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) spoke with the police officers.

The stuudents' month-long protest has so far failed to move the administration, which has rejected their demand for a complete rollback of the proposed hike in the hostel charges.

The draft hostel manual proposed to hike hostel charges from Rs 10 for double occupancy to Rs 300, and Rs 600 for single occupancy from the earlier Rs 20. After the protests, the administration announced a 50 per cent concession for the BPL category students, but it failed to pacify students.

The issue is being handled by a committee of the Union Ministry of Human Resources, which has given its recommendations to the varsity administration after several meetings with students and their representatives.

( With inputs from IANS )