Ahmedabad: Adesh Pal, Vice-chancellor of Gujarat University, has pioneered the keeping of bouncers for personal security. Pal has eight bouncers in his security detail and this lesson has now cascaded down to the city’s colleges.
Four colleges of the city have deployed bouncers, over and above the more regular private security cover. These are apparently to thwart unsocial elements and avoid clashes between student groups. There have been quite a few incidents of groups of students clashing on campuses and of student leaders having bullied college administrators over admissions.
Sources said that as the admission season in full bloom, campuses now have many more people entering them. The extra crowds bring in some hooligans and anti-socials who sneak in and cause ruckuses. This brings a ‘bad name’ to the institution and disturbs the functioning of the college. These bouncers are meant to keep an eye on these kind of people on campuses during admission season.
S M Patel College Of Commerce, GLS Institute Of Commerce and H K Commerce & Arts College are three colleges who have deployed bouncers on their campuses.
Not just colleges, a renowned school too has deployed bouncers on its campus after an agitation, by parents against a fee hike, turned ugly. Gujarat Law Society which runs many colleges has also deployed bouncers in their main administrative building, besides the regular security apparatus. These bouncers check visitors before they meet officials.
College authorities say that they have their own private security guards who man colleges, but they need the services of bouncers during admission season.
A college official said, “All kind of people visit the campus during admission season. Past incidents have showed that students take the law in their hands and things become ugly on campus. Even principals are sometimes manhandled by unruly student wings of political parties.”
Colleges spend up to Rs 800 per day for bouncers and Rs 600 per day for extra security guards for eight-hour shifts.
Balchandra Joshi, registrar of the Gujarat Law Society which runs many colleges says: “Students and teachers feel safe by employing extra security. This helps the normal functioning of the college.” Nowadays it’s definitely safety first.”
Principal of H K Arts College, Subhash Brahmbhatt, said: “On admission days we face lot of problems in the commerce section and we had used services of bouncers to deal with this.”
The principal of S M Patel College said, “We have to maintain safety and decorum on campus. We have our own private security team, but we have deployed one bouncer and a team of 3 security guards to assist him at S M Patel College of Commerce and GLS Institute of Commerce. They roam around the college keeping checks on the kind of people visiting the campus. We do have our team of 20 security guards who man the college premises and have even requested for police presence. Police also often station a PCR near the college. This is just to maintain peace on campus.”
Bureau Report
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