No canteen, rooms crammed with junk: MU hostel women complain of poor amenities

Following a proper criticism by the scholars to the administration, senate members of the college carried out a shock inspection on Friday. The visiting workforce included pupil representatives Sheetal Sheth, Pradeep Sawant, Shashikant Zore, and former senate member Rajan Kolambekar.

Sawant mentioned, “There was no canteen facility for the final 15 days. College students haven’t any alternative however to order each meal from outdoors daily.” One of many college students mentioned that regardless of repeated makes an attempt to contact the administration, no motion had been taken to resolve the problem.

Sheth additionally highlighted different crucial issues. “The ingesting water system is insufficient. Simply three of the seven flooring have water coolers. Moreover, every flooring has simply two geysers for bathing, which isn’t almost sufficient,” she mentioned.

Lighting is one other concern. Many flooring have poor or non-functional lighting, and the hostel lacks a full-time warden. “For a hostel with a capability of 196 college students, there’s no everlasting warden. The present wardens solely go to for 2 hours a day,” Sheth added.

This case is very regarding in gentle of the rules issued by the state authorities in June 2023, following a rape and homicide on the Savitribai Phule Ladies’s Hostel in Charni Highway. These pointers mandate the presence of a full-time warden and correct coaching for all hostel workers.

Zore famous that some rooms are unnecessarily locked or crammed with junk. “A part of the first-floor roof has collapsed, and some rooms are getting used to retailer rubbish and unusable objects.”

Sawant additionally identified points with room allocation. “Based on a Administration Council determination made between 2018 and 2022, any leftover rooms after college division allocations ought to go to college students from affiliated schools. However final yr, out of 196 seats, solely 170 had been crammed. Regardless of pupil demand, the remaining seats had been left vacant.”

Senate members have despatched a letter to vice-chancellor Ravindra Kulkarni, urging him to take speedy motion. The letter reads, “This mismanagement is inflicting critical inconvenience to college students. We strongly request the college administration to take private accountability and enhance hostel situations.”

Responding to allegations concerning the poor situations on the hostel, MU issued a press release denying the claims and in addition criticised the shock go to made by Senate members, together with three males.

An MU official said, “The Senate members entered the women’ hostel with out prior permission from the administration and within the absence of the warden, which is towards college guidelines. Such visits usually are not allowed.” The college additionally mentioned that a number of MU authority members have condemned the go to and are calling for strict motion towards these concerned. The assertion said that the college has taken critical observe of the incident.

In response to the complaints raised concerning the hostel, the college clarified that the canteen was shut for 10 days attributable to unavoidable causes however is now absolutely operational. It additionally said that there are sufficient water coolers put in, and no complaints have been acquired about geysers. “All lights are functioning correctly, and no a part of the roof has collapsed. The data being circulated is deceptive and relies on a rushed inspection,” the assertion mentioned. MU additional added that the hostel has a full-time superintendent, safety personnel, and different workers who’re available to college students, together with by means of a devoted WhatsApp group.