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Chauhan takes charge amid protests at FTII, BP Singh to head academic council- 8-Jan-2016
Pune: Amid dramatic scenes and vociferous protests by students, TV actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan today took charge as Chairman of FTII, seven months after his appointment, even as police resorted to lathicharge and detained nearly 40 protesters.
However, in what could be a compromise formula to resolve the row over Chauhan's controversial appointment that led students to go on an unprecedented 139-day strike, the FTII society today chose producer-director B P Singh as its Vice President and also Chairman of Academic Council. The students, who are demanding Chauhan's removal, called of their strike on October 28.
Singh, who is known for Television serial 'CID', is an alumnus of FTII.
A senior Information and Broadcasting ministry official said that during negotiations, student representatives had at times questioned Chauhan's credentials related to academic curriculum and they believed that with Singh heading the Academic Council, such issues won't arise.
"Singh studied film making at FTII and is a veteran in this field, so a lot of concerns raised would be accomodated," he said in Delhi.
Police rounded up about 40 student protesters using force as they staged a demonstration, beating drums and displaying placards with slogans of "Gajendra Chauhan go back" and calling him a "political appointee".
During the course of the protests, Chauhan was confined to his hotel room in the vicinity of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).
When asked about the continuing students' protest to his appointment, Chauhan, before reaching the campus, said, "We have come to do a job. We have an agenda and we will do our job."
At the FTII society meeting today apart from Chauhan and Singh, filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, actor Satish Shah, film critic Bhawana Somaiyya, Akademi Awardee Director Urmil Thapliyal, Assamese Film actor Pranjal Saikia and others were present.
Other controversial members of the FTII society with alleged BJP affiliation -- Rahul Solapurkar, Anagha Ghaisas, and Narendra Pathak -- also attended the first meeting convened by Chauhan as the chairman.
An official statement released said that B P Singh was elected as the Vice President of the FTII Society while Hirani, Singh, Saikia, Shah, Pathak and Somaiyya were nominated to the Governing Council.
Singh was elected as the Vice Chairman of the Governing Council and it was decided to nominate the Vice Chairman of the Governing Council as the Chairman of the Academic Council, the statement added.
At its first meeting held under chairmanship of Chauhan, the FTII Society elected noted film producer-director B P Singh as its Vice President.
It also nominated Rajkumar Hirani, Satish Shah, Pranjal Saikia, Narendra Pathak and Bhavna Somaiyya to the new General Council.
The FTII staff accorded a welcome to Chauhan, who assured them that he would work to solve their long pending demands including that of pension.
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