BENGALURU: Since January this year, female students living in hostels at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have had sleepless nights due to the construction of a ladies hostel building that will comprise 500 rooms. The proposed time for completion of block-A of the building is March 2019 and blocks B and C will be completed by August 2019.
While this is being done to ensure boarders have more accommodation, the construction work, which goes on at all times of the day, has been troubling those who reside in the three girls hostels around. The three buildings here are named Rohini, Bharini and Ashwini.
Until August this year, the construction work did not affect boarders, but it was the noisy work that would go on till 8 pm that has started bothering students. Of the over-200 students who stay here, approximately 50 are PhD students working on their thesis submissions. A student who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, said, “The kind of studying we do requires mental peace, concentration and energy. If the hammering and drilling happens late at night, we barely get a few hours of sound sleep.”
Students also said that they have had to cancel and postpone meetings with the advisors, as the lack of sleep has stressed them to the point of not being able to meet deadlines. “I chose IISc over other options because of its reputation, and most importantly, because of the beautiful campus. If I would have known of this earlier, I would not have joined,” claimed another student.
Students told us that the different structures and study hours that each course demands, makes it difficult for them to sleep during hours when it's relatively quiet. “What is odd is that in the afternoon, when most of us are not in the hostel area, the workers take rest and it's quieter then.” When the students brought this up with college authorities, the director reportedly told them that the work is lagging behind, and hence, they will see to it that ‘quieter work is carried out at night’.
IISc Registrar V Rajarajan said, “I don't want to comment since the issue is under the Centre for Campus Management and Development (CCMD).” The project engineer-in-charge, however, was unavailable for comment.
Taking about the lack of a strong voice from the students to take on the issue, one said, “Our course demands different expectations from different students, making it difficult for us to find time to come together and work towards a solution. We have spoken to the director, but have not been able to get the time to pursue them to taking action.”