Sambalpur: The proposed shifting of the Gangadhar Meher Junior College from the premises of the Gangadhar Meher University here has sparked protests among students and the people Thursday, with various organisations joining hands to block the move.
The matter came out after a delegation of organisations led by Satya Narayan Thakur, Ashok Pradhan and Murari Purohit met deputy registrar Umacharan Pati Thursday and submitted a memorandum urging him to review the decision to shift the junior college.
Pati expressed his inability to help them, but assured to inform the higher-ups. The students had earlier organised a protest meet.
The Gangadhar Meher Junior College functioning from Gangadhar Meher University premises is a Plus Two college having Arts, Science and Commerce streams.
Due to a space crunch the authorities had decided to shift it outside and teach the students at the Budharaja High School, Chandrasekhar Behera Zilla School and the Municipal Girls High School.
Students fear that their studies will be hit as these schools lack necessary facilities. They said that if the college is shifted outside it will lose its image built over the years, and demanded that the authorities review the decision.
The Gangadhar Meher College was established in 1944 as Sambalpur College with just 192 students. The college was renamed as Gangadhar Meher College in 1949, and was upgraded into a university in 2015.
Plus Two courses were separated into a junior college which started functioning from the university premises.
Once it was decided to shift the college outside, the university authorities decided to launch six new courses.
Subrat Panda, Sanjiv Mishra, Surya Panigrahi, Saroj Mohanty, Prafulla Kumar Hota, Bodhram Dash and Raghunath Mishra accompanied the delegation that met the deputy registrar.
PNN