Around 3,000 people (students and staff) were allowed to remain on campus despite the nationwide lockdown due to Coronavirus infection
PUNJAB| Lovely Professional University has been slapped with a show-cause notice by the Higher Education Ministry of the Punjab Government. The University is situated in Phagwara in the state’s Kapurthala district. A copy of the notice has been shared with Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Deepti Uppal.
The notice states the behaviour of the LPU’s to hold back 3,000 people along with staff and students is not appreciatable. Punjab Government criticised the university’s take on the current situation of COVID-19 in the state. Terming the LPU’s behaviour as “extremely callous and irresponsible”, the Higher Education Ministry of Punjab also claims that the university flouted its March 13 order directing temporary closure of all educational institutions.
The issue came in light after a 21-year-old student of the university tested positive for the COVID-19 on Apil 12. The student is originally from Maharashtra. The patient is undergoing treatment for the infection at the Kapurthala civil hospital.
The University has now been given seven days by the state government’s higher education department to explain why the no-objection certification (NOC) issued to it should not be revoked. Authorities have further asserted that LPU violated the Centre and Punjab government’s explicit orders and endangered the lives of over 3,200 people.
Earlier this week, former Union minister Vijay Sample and Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeett Singh brought the matter to the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. A letter has also been written by Rane Gurjeett Singh to Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan in this regard.
When this issue came in light Congress workers even staged demonstrations a few kilometres outside the University campus. While observing social distancing norms, the political workers demanded accountability from the varsity and claimed that it has endangered the lives of its own students and faculty along with the thousand others who live in villages around the campus.
The university is yet to answer a statement on why it failed to send their students and staff home back between March 13 and March 22 amid coronavirus outbreak.
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