Research scholars who took admission in IIT Kharagpur in July have been informed by the institution that they “may have to stay outside the campus or share the accommodation on campus” because of “paucity of accommodation in the hostels”.
Each scholar gets a room which he or she does not have to share with others. They are even accommodated in the 20 hostels earmarked for the undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The rise in the number of students over the past few years and the institute's failure to complete the construction of a 1,500-seat hostel has resulted in the space crunch for research scholars, sources said.
The admission letter issued to the PhD scholars says: “It may be noted that due to a large increase in student strength and ongoing hall construction activities, the institute is not in a position to offer hostel accommodation to all newly admitted research scholars. Hence the newly admitted research scholars must be prepared to find their own accommodation outside the campus for at least one year”.
The information brochure for the PhD admission 2022-23 (Autumn semester) says: “The institute is residential….However due to the paucity of accommodation in the hostels, research scholars may have to stay outside the campus or share the accommodation on the campus…”.
IIT Kharagpur registrar Tamal Nath said they are encountering space constraints at this moment and the scholars have been informed accordingly.
At the IIT, students are accommodated in 22 halls of residence, 14 for boys and 6 for girls and 2 for research scholars with family accommodation.
An IIT official said the number of research scholars has shot up over the years.
“The number of undergraduate and postgraduate students has increased as well with the introduction of fresh quotas from 2019. The space crisis could not be felt much amid the pandemic when the students were away from the campus. But with the resumption of on-campus activities, we now are feeling the crisis,” the official said.
The Telegraph had reported in April that IIT Kharagpur was forced to stagger the arrival of first-year students, who are at present attending online classes, because of lack of accommodation facilities on the campus.
“Now the construction of the 1,500-seat capacity hostel has resumed. Once the hostel is ready the crisis will be over,” an IIT official said.