THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Roofs that fall apart, stairs that shake under one’s feet, rooms that turn pools of water during rains and unusable toilets - these are a few in the long list of problems faced by the postgraduate students and research scholars of Kerala University, who are living in the hostels at Kariavattom Campus. The inmates, of both ladies and men’s hostels, are living in fear after mishaps of big and small magnitudes.
The mishaps at the ill-maintained hostel buildings have become a common phenomenon these days. There is no end to the woes of the hostel inmates even after repeated pleas. Earlier, it was only the ladies’ hostel (LH), a portion of which had collapsed in September 2009, which was in a bad shape. Now, the other hostels, including, the teachers’ hostel, researchers’ hostel and university guest house, too started showing the signs of decay, which led the inmates to launch an indefinite agitation on Thursday.
The students alleged that it was the lethargy of the authorities in carrying out regular and proper maintenance which made the matters worse. Given the existing condition of the hostel, the female inmates seem to be more in danger. Following the collapse of the LH two years ago, they were accommodated in the men’s hostel (MH). Now, the condition of MH too is deteriorating.
The roofs of all the blocks in the hostels became weak in the rains which lashed the city for the past few days. The roofs have started to fall apart. The girl students are cautioned by the hostel authorities to take care while using the toilets which are in dilapidated condition, says an inmate.
“If anything catastrophic happens, we will be forced to sleep in the open space as KU is yet to construct a new hostel building even after two years,” she said.
Joshy, a representative of the students and a leader of the Students Federation of India (SFI) unit on the campus said that the authorities needed to find a lasting solution for the problems faced by the hostel inmates. The stipulated time limit for the works of the new building for the LH, which had started over a year ago, expired on November 4. “The works are still in its nascent stage which itself shows the laxity of the authorities”, he said.
On Thursday, Pro-Vice Chancellor J Prabhash and a team of University Syndicate members, including S P Deepak, Vivekanandan, P S Sreelekha and Dr Mohanachandran visited the campus and held talks with the students’ representatives. The students informed the authorities their decision to continue with the agitation until the latter come up with a permanent solution to their problems.
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