Admin blames govt for lack of funds as students protest again

Karachi

Students belonging to the University of Karachi (KU) on Monday, for a second time in a week, came out in large numbers to protest the increase in the varsity’s transport service fares, only a year after they were previously increased.

Earlier charging Rs10 per trip (to and from the university), the University students would now have to pay Rs15; whereas instead of Rs5, students would have to pay Rs10 if they were to take a bus from Nipa (bus stop).

Citing the decrease in petroleum prices, students claimed that the varsity
had  lost all ground to justify the increase in transport fares.

“The bread earners in our families haven’t been getting any raise in their salaries but our expenditures keep increasing on one pretext or the other,” said a student.

The protestors claimed to have spoken to the university’s administration following the first demonstration that took place last Wednesday, outside the Administration block, but expressed disappointment over its decision to not decrease the fares.

The protesting students expressed anger over the administration’s claim that the amount was minimal and could easily be afforded by the students.

“The decision would prove a disaster as it is a public university where most of the students juggle their studies with jobs to pay for their tuition fees and belong to lower-middle to lower income families,” stated a second year student of the public administration department.

The students also blamed the transport department for running buses in deplorable conditions which were a major threat to their lives as well as the bus’ crew.

The protesting students claimed the varsity’s management had increased transport fares by 200 percent over a period of three years.

However, KU transport in-charge, Prof Dr Mudasiruddin, claimed that the university was spending an annual amount of Rs78 million on transport but was merely collecting Rs5 million in return from students against the previous rates.

“The situation is not quite in our favour either, since we do not have alternate means of providing transport and the cost of maintenance is too high, thus the decision to increase transport fares,” he claimed.

The management would not have had to increase the fare if it was getting timely funds, new vehicles and proper grants from the government, Prof Mudsasiruddin asserted.

The students should also keep in mind that the university provides free shuttle service to them and visitors from the Silver Jubilee and Maskan gates despite their being only four to five buses in a usable condition; the rest require maintenance on a daily basis, he further added.

Further elaborating over KU transport department’s state of affairs, he claimed that it had requested for around 40 new tyres to be provided for the buses, but got an approval for 10 tyres only which were yet to be handed over to them.

“The students spend hundreds of rupees at cafeterias but can’t pay for transport!” the professor said, adding that the increment would be withdrawn only if the varsity was provided its due share of grants.

The university used to charge Rs3 per trip and Rs2 from the Nipa stop till December 2010; the fare was later in 2013 increased to Rs8 for city routes and Rs5 for latter, in 2014 the fare was raised to Rs10.