Hundreds of Kelaniya undergrads lay siege to administration building over death of colleague

By Norman Palihawadane

Hundreds of undergraduates of the Kelaniya University surrounded its administra-tion building and staged a protest yesterday, condemning the authorities for failure to provide an ambulance to rush one of their colleagues to a hospital on Sunday night.

The deceased was identified as Niroshan Lakmal, a fourth year student of the Arts Faculty.

The protesters complained that their colleague was seriously ill and fainted on Sunday night, and even though the authorities had been informed of the need to hospitalise him, there had been an inordinate delay.

There had been a delay of over 40 minutes, protesters said, adding that doctors at the Kiribathgoda hospital told them that had the patient been admitted on time, his life could have been saved.

The undergraduates first closed down the University’s main entrance early in the morning and staff members and teachers coming to the University had to detour to enter the University.

Later, the students surrounded the main administration building and staged a protest there.