The planned hostel segregation for first-year students at Jadavpur University has met with fresh resistance as the employees staying in staff quarters that have been earmarked for freshers have refused to shift to another facility.
The university has selected the JPJU (Jadavpur Polytechnic Jadavpur University) quarters and the New Block Hostel for first-year students.
When JU registrar Snehamanju Basu on Friday informed the employees staying at the JPJU quarters about the alternative accommodation and asked them to shift there by October 10, many of them objected citing the size of the alternative accommodation, officials said.
Around 15 senior students staying at the New Block Hostel have refused to move out. They have reportedly told the authorities that they were not inclined to stay at the PG (postgraduate) hostels because they are scared of those who are senior to them.
Thanks to the stonewalling, a JU official said, even the fresh deadline (October 10) of hostel segregation is unlikely to be met. The earlier deadline was September 30.
The university had on August 12 decided to house undergraduate first-year students in hostels where seniors would be denied access to ensure that freshers are not ragged.
It took JU 14 years and the death of a first-year student to start implementing a guideline issued by the UGC in 2009. The hostel segregation was announced by pro-vice-chancellor Amitava Dutta more than a month-and-a-half ago, but work is still pending.
The first-year student was allegedly ragged and thrown from a second-floor balcony of the JU Main Hostel on the night of August 9. He died at a private hospital early next morning.
A UGC communication to the JU registrar on September 12 said: “Freshers are not lodged in a separate hostel block; all students are kept mixed in the hostel”.
JU officiating VC Buddhadeb Sau told this newspaper on Tuesday that the students' welfare board had been asked to complete the task of segregation by October 10, after it became clear that the September 30 deadline would be missed.
Registrar Basu said: “I have spoken to the staff staying in the (JPJU) quarters about the alternative accommodation which has been readied for them. Some have said the rooms in the new quarters are smaller than where they now stay."
The university has spent over Rs 6 lakh on the renovation of the quarters, said a JU official.
Will the university finally be able to shift the employees?
“The executive council had resolved at its Monday meeting to complete the process of reallocation by October 10. We will act in accordance with that. A circular to this effect will soon be issued," the official said.