Parking fee row is hotting up

Parking fee row is hotting up

Amid fears that the management of New Horizon College is going to expel five students for protesting against the introduction of parking fee, students are planning a demonstration on Monday, Arunima Rajan reports

Arunima Rajan



The students of New Horizon College of Management in Marathalli are planning a protest on Monday against an alleged move by the management to expel five students suspended for resisting introduction of a parking fee.
But the parking fee issue did not figure in the meeting of parents and teachers held on Thursday.
The dispute began when the college management introduced a parking fee for both two wheelers and four wheelers. They started charging Rs6,000 for four wheelers, Rs4,000 for two wheelers above 125cc, and Rs2,000 for bikes below 125cc.
Irked by this measure, the students started parking vehicles on the service road outside the campus. But since it was a 'no parking' zone, the traffic police slapped a fine on the vehicles.
"We can't allow students to park their vehicles on the service road as it will affect the flow of traffic. We fined some students to prevent the road block," said Srinivas Murthy, ACP for traffic (east).
Meena Sharma, a parent, came all the way from Lucknow to attend the meeting on Thursday after she received a call from the college authorities about the poor performance of her daughter.
"They told me my daughter was not performing well in exams. She has been studying there for over an year and they did not alert me about this until now. It's unfair on the part of the authorities to introduce such a heavy parking fee from students. As parents, we cannot afford to spend so much. The college bus services are also quite expensive," Sharma said.
The students of Engineering, BBM, and MBA sections staged a protest against the fee on September 3. But the authorities toughened their stand and suspended student protesters Dilip Kumar, Shivu S, Monish Naidu, Sajan Mathew, and Anoop.
"The parking fee is too much. I protested and was suspended for a week. The management has now started harassing students over wearing helmets," said Mathew.
"It is unfair to suspend only a few students when the entire student community participated in the protest. If they are charging us so much for parking our vehicles, the facility should be equally good. I'm not going to college for the past one week due to this problem," said a first-year student.
Students alleged that the parking lot did not even have a shelter.
"The parking facilities are substandard. Hence we keep our vehicles in the playground. We appealed to the management to reduce the fee. But they never listened," said Dilip Kumar, a second-year student.
Many students denounced what they termed as the "unjust" parking fee imposed by the authorities. They alleged that the authorities were threatening all critics of the new measure to leave the college. Some said teachers were not taking classes.
However, a member of the management told DNA that such allegations were baseless. "We have not requested any of the students to leave the college," he said on condition of anonymity.
"The playground of our college is a 'multi-purpose' facility. When it rains, the ground becomes so slushy it is difficult to take our vehicle from the ground. We are also planning to join the strike on Monday," said a second-year BE student.
The students also alleged that the management was demanding one month's salary from them if they got a job.
"The college charges this placement fee from BBM and Engineering students. If they do not give the money, the management will withhold our certificates," Shivu, the suspended student, said