Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 20: The director of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidalya called on Culture Secretary at the Secretariat Thursday as the students’ protest against the principal continued for the sixth consecutive day Thursday on the college campus.
The students have been demanding ouster of principal Tamasarani Das Mohapatra alleging her involvement in the misappropriation of college funds and denial of the auditorium facilities to students to conduct drama and its allocation to private individuals for organising private functions such as birthday parties.
Director Ranjit Mohanty told Orissa POST, “An enquiry has been ordered and a probe panel is already engaged in the job. If anyone is found guilty, we will take appropriate action.” However, he did not set any time-frame within which the probe should be completed.
Mohanty said the secretary of the institution is aware of the ongoing protests on the college campus and “he has asked me to sort out the issue immediately.”
Culture secretary Manoj Panigrahi, however, was not available for his comment and his personal assistant informed this paper that the meeting between Panigrahi and Mohanty was still going on till the time the report was filed.
Meanwhile, the students continued to boycott classes and sat on protest Thursday again sporting black badges tied to their arms demanding immediate removal of the principal. “We are not going to call it off until our demands are conceded,” Manorama Rout, a drama student, said.
The Orissa Kala Sikshak Sangh (OKSS) also joined the students in their protest and expressed apprehension over the credibility of the probe. “As long as the principal is at the helm of affairs, you cannot expect a fair probe into the allegations,” OKSS president Niladari Kalyan Das said.
