BU Students' Stir on for Hostel Facilities

BENGALURU:Bangalore University post-graduate and PhD students living at the Jnana Bharathi campus continued their protest on Tuesday. The students had started their protest on Monday, demanding basic facilities at the hostels.

However, the students are split in two groups. While one group is alleging lack of facilities, the other  says that the matter has been blown out of proportion.

Speaking to Express, Sridhar, a PhD student, said, “It was a simple problem but some students are making it an issue. Majority of the

students are not taking part in the protest as the Vice-Chancellor has assured to provide the facilities by November.”

According to Sridhar and some other students, the quality of the food is also good. “When it comes to cleanliness, if we do not cooperate with the authorities, how can they maintain it? Most of the time, when the sweeper comes, the rooms are locked,” said another student.

“When the problem is within us, why should we blame the authorities? Of course there are bed bugs and mosquitoes, but whenever people come to sanitise the rooms, students do not co-operate saying they cannot vacate or tolerate the odour of the chemicals,” they added.

According to them, the protest originally started due to delay in stipend. “For post-graduate students, the stipend for this month was delayed by a week. The protest started due to this. But later it turned towards basic facilities,” said a student.

Meanwhile, the protest staged on Monday in front of the Vice-Chancellor’s office had more outsiders than students.

The protest started around 10 am and by noon, people from several organisations including M Venkataswamy of Samata Sainik Dal joined the students.

However, another group blamed the university for not providing basic facilities at the hostels.

“We are living like animals at the hostels. Even after repeated representations, the authorities concerned are least bothered about the issues,” said a post-graduation  student.

When contacted, vice-chancellor B Thimme Gowda said, “We have discussed the issues with the students and we will look into the issues they have raised and sort them out by November.”

Food Wasted

The protest staged by students on Monday night resulted in waste of food worth around Rs 50,000, according to hostel authorities.

Following this, the authorities did not cook food on Tuesday morning and afternoon.

However, after discussion with the vice-chancellor, students returned to the hostel and as per the directions given by the vice-chancellor, the hostel authorities cooked food for the afternoon.

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