Sambalpur: Burn Statue of the Chancellor in front of the university

Sambalpur: Protests have been staged with the burn of statue of Prof. Sanjiv Mittal, the Vice-Chancellor of Sambalpur University, who was embroiled in a controversy. Even after evidence of financial irregularities, there have been allegations of a lax policy to take action against Professor Mittal. A memorandum to the viceroy today questioned the state government’s zero-tolerance policy against corruption. Today, lawyers and ex-syndicate member Durga Prasad Padhi, Burla Town Congress President Shivbrat Pradhan Magar, lawyers, syndicate and ex-senate members submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor of Sambalpur University. It has been stated that since Professor Sanjiv Mittal took charge as the Chancellor, Sambalpur University has been brought into dispute. Many incidents like illegal felling of trees, self-immolation of temporary employee Dinbandhu Mishra, burning of valuable library books and irregularities in government funds have happened during his time. Due to some of the actions of Professor Mittal, the university has not only suffered academic losses but also financial losses. In violation of the rules and regulations, the vice president has issued show cause notices twice for sending Rs 29 lakh from the university fund to his wife and son. However, after the financial irregularity report was submitted, the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Mittal has gone on long leave due to some reason. But, ironically, no visible action has been taken against him so far. Any government official or employee involved in such corruption is booked against him in the police station.

However, there are exceptions in this case. The petition asks where the state government’s zero-tolerance policy against corruption has gone. The Vice-Chancellor has been requested to remove Prof. Mittal from the post of Vice-Chancellor and order the Chancellor to file a police report against him. Before handing over the memorial, an effigy of the Chancellor was burnt after a protest in front of the main entrance of the university. It stars Arun Kumar, Hardeep Singh, Prakash Satpathy, Saroj Das, Sukant Parida, Sumant Swain, Lalit Mittal, many people including P.K Pradhan, Hrida Sarangi joined the movement.