The girl students of Presidency University who forced their way into their hostel in Salt Lake on Monday are finding it difficult to stay on in the absence of “liveable conditions”.
The students forcibly entered the hostel because the authorities had not reopened it even after in-person classes resumed following a prolonged closure of the campus because of Covid.
The students said the ceiling fans in many rooms were not functioning and the washrooms had not been cleaned for months.
The students also said the authorities had not resumed the bus service between the girls’ hostel and the university campus on College Street. As a result, they are dependent on public transport.
Since the mess service, too, is yet to resume, the 12 students staying at the hostel are being forced to buy food at a steep price from outside.
The students met the dean of students at Presidency, Arun Kumar Maity, on Wednesday afternoon to draw his attention to the problems they have been facing.
When contacted by this newspaper, the dean declined to comment on the students’ complaints.
Sources on the campus, however, said the dean had taken steps after the meeting to ensure the fans became functional and the washrooms were cleaned on Wednesday.
A Presidency official said some of the fans were removed to facilitate repairs. “But the students forcibly entered the hostel before repairs could be completed. That has caused some inconveniences,” the official said.
The dean, however, could not say when the bus and mess services would resume, a student said.
Presidency sources said the services could not be restored till superintendents and assistant superintendents for the hostels were appointed. Teachers who want to join the posts have to send their applications by March 31.
One of the students staying in the Salt Lake hostel said she and her friends had decided to buy food from the College Street area where the rates are in the affordable range.
“The condition is quite bad. It’s summer and the fans are not working,” Ankita Sarkar, one of the 12 boarders who forced their way into the hostel by breaking open the lock on the main gate, said on Wednesday afternoon.