A cow protection and research centre set up at Delhi University’s Hansraj College has drawn the ire of students, who claim that it has been set up at a site reserved for a women’s hostel.

College principal Rama Sharma, however, said architects found the site unsuitable for building a hostel as it is a setback area.

The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) unit of Hansraj College alleged that a ‘gaushala’ (cow shelter), dubbed as Swami Dayanand Cow-Protection and Research Centre has been constructed at the site reserved for the women’s hostel.

“As colleges shut down because of the pandemic, our college administration demanded full fees, even though most of our families were suffering economic hardships. Now imagine our surprise when we learn that while the campus has been shut, the college has finished the construction of a full-fledged ‘gaushala’ without any warning or discussion with the student community,” the SFI alleged.

It said students will launch a vigorous campaign against this move. It also demanded that the ‘gaushala’ be pulled down and the construction of the long-awaited women’s hostel be started.

Sharma said architects had examined the site in question and informed the college that a hostel could not be built there.

“Architects had seen the site and told us that it is a setback area and a hostel cannot be constructed there. The women’s hostel is my dream project and architects will identify a suitable place for it,” she said.

“We are getting a master plan of the entire college drawn up by professional architects since we want to have more classrooms and a hostel that can accommodate 100 women students,” she added.

Sharma also denied the centre was a ‘gaushala’.

There is only one cow at the centre to enable students to carry out research and it is not a ‘gaushala’, she said.

“We were thinking of setting up a ‘gobar’ gas plant before Covid and this has been done as an experiment,” she added.

The principal said theirs is a DAV trust college and a ‘havan’ is held every month on the campus.

Also Read: Padma Shri was a recognition of work done: Jamia Millia VC