Stepping up their protest, the students’ unions of Punjabi University, Patiala, have urged the state government to withdraw the recent fee hike in full, saying they would protest against the visits by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including MLAs, ministers and chief minister Bhagwant Mann, on the campus, until their demands are met.The students have rejected the partial rollback and insisted on a complete withdrawal. (HT)Eight student organisations under the banner of the ‘Fee Hike Opposition Front’ have been protesting outside the office of vice-chancellor Jagdeep Singh since August 12, when the university hiked fees for both hostels and course-related charges by nearly 17%.With no headway in breaking the deadlock, the university administration on August 18 announced a partial rollback, reducing the hike to 7.5%, saying this will ease the financial burden on the students.However, the students have rejected the partial rollback and insisted on a complete withdrawal.Punjab Student Union (PSU) leader Gurdas Singh, a member of the joint front, said the students are also demanding that the Bhagwant Mann-led government waive off the university’s outstanding ₹150 crore loan.While the students have claimed that steep increases in hostel and course-related fees will make education more expensive, the university administration, however, maintained that the fee structure had remained largely unchanged for nearly five years and that the revision was necessitated by the financial difficulties and the need to mobilise additional resources.“The Punjab government should waive off the university’s outstanding ₹150 crore loan. The financial burden should not be passed on to students through repeated fee hikes,” the students’ unions said in a statement.