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Around 40 students staged a demonstration outside Hansraj College on Friday demanding that the administration revoke its decision to discontinue serving non-vegetarian food on the campus.
The police detained 15 students after they refused to disperse from the spot, said a senior police officer. The students were later released.
Over the past few days, studentsтАЩ groups have been voicing their disagreement with the collegeтАЩs decision to discontinue serving non-vegetarian food after it reopened, following the pandemic, in February last year.
The collegeтАЩs decision has forced many Indian and foreign students to move from hostels to PGs, said Jatin Mathur, a third-year Anthropology student of the college.
тАЬThe discontinuation of non-vegetarian diet has affected many migrant students, who come from different backgrounds and canтАЩt afford to buy their meals from expensive restaurants,тАЭ said Punya Balakrishnan, a second-year Zoology student of the college.
Students said that they used to pay тВ╣37,125 for vegetarian food and тВ╣38,625 for non-vegetarian food as their annual mess fee till last year.
Since 2022, the students said, they are being charged тВ╣55,010 for the vegetarian fare.
Samaa, SFIтАЩs Hansraj unit chief, said, тАЬThe college stopped serving non-vegetarian food without any prior notice. Students had no idea that the administration would go to the extent of frisking them and confiscating non-vegetarian food.тАЭ When contacted, Rama Sharma, Hansraj College principal, refused to comment.