Chandigarh, Aug. 18 -- The 2024-25 tenure of the Panjab University Campus Students' Council (PUCSC) will likely be remembered more for chaos, controversies and a tragic concert incident than for the promises it made to students. The session saw a series of turmoil episodes, the murder of a UIET student during a concert, pandemonium during events organised by the council, protests over delay in senate polls and a controversy aroundaffidavits from new students for protests. While the campus reeled under these developments, the student council remained divided and was unable to push through any significant schemes for students' welfare. PUCSC president Anurag Dalal won the post independently with the support of a fragile alliance between different parties, but later saw the support fading. Former Chandigarh president of National Students' Union of India (NSUI), Sikander Boora, who had publicly resigned from the post to back Dalal, had withdrawn his support within months of his election. Among Dalal's major promises before polls were restoring integrity in student politics, curbing political interference, reviving the glory of student festivals, making PU a 24x7 campus and creating institutional email IDs for all students. However, most of these remain unfulfilled. The pledge to restore the traditional grandeur of student fests ironically ended in complete mismanagement. Dalal's own musical night in March, featuring Punjabi singer Arjan Dhillon, was cancelled amid utter lack of preparedness, resulting in sheer chaos, with unending traffic snarls, broken barricades and a massive uncontrollable crowd. Another fest organised by joint secretary Jasvinder Rana within the same week saw the gruesome murder of UIET student Aditya Thakur, sparking angry protests on the campus. In response, PU scrapped star nights altogether, opting for low-key cultural gatherings instead. Before the fests, a Holi party, organised by Dalal, had seen rowdy behaviour, prompting the varsity to ban Holi celebrations at the Student Centre in future. Dalal's promise to end political interference also fell flat as leaders from different political parties openly participated in the senate poll protests. Some commitments, such as a 24x7 campus by merging evening departments with regular courses, were termed impractical, while feasible ones like institutional e-mail IDs for students never saw the light of day. Dalal defended his tenure, stating, "I remain perhaps the only PUCSC president to meet with the chancellor four times to keep him posted about the student issues. I was always there for the students and present on the campus throughout the year," he said. Dalal added that his inspections of messes and his campaign for better quality ingredients for food were also appreciated. Being a research scholar himself, he claims he helped bring a policy under which JRF scholars can take admission any time through the year and helped increase the scholarship for some courses in SAIF-CIL. On the unfulfilled manifesto promises, Dalal blamed thestudent parties that initially backed him, but later withdrew support. Vice-president Archit Garg of the NSUI was more visible than his predecessors and claims to have begun work on a formal constitution for the campus council, but his party's four-point plan too saw little progress. The final draft of the constitution is likely before this year's election....