CHENNAI: Struggling to meet the demand from thousands of staff and student residents after being hit by one of the worst water crises in years, Anna University has decided to advance semester exams by a month to wind up the session before the crisis peaks in summer. From this week, Saturdays would be working days so as to finish the syllabus and wrap up the semester early.
“Due to the failure of monsoon in Chennai, it has been approved to squeeze the… semester by conducting classes on all Saturdays from 28th January ” read a circular issued by the university. Following this, the semester exams would be held in April — a month earlier than usual, an official from the university told Express.
“We plan to finish the semester exams by the second week of April for the final semesters — 4, 6 and 8 — while they would be wound up by the end of April for the first, second and third semesters,” the official added.
The 37 hostels on the university’s four campuses house 7,500 students — besides staff — and require about eight lakh litres of water a day. Three lakh litres are supplied to the hostels and three lakh to the staff quarters. The rest is supplied to departments, for use in labs and classrooms, said Prof VK Stalin, estate officer of the university.
However, with the water in city reservoirs dwindling to alarming levels, Chennai Metro Water has reduced the supply to five lakh litres a day. Used to getting water round-the-clock, hostel residents now receive it only from 5.30 - 9.30 am and from 5:30 - 6:30 pm.
“It is getting increasingly difficult. For emergency needs, the workers fill tanks in the toilets that have a capacity of just 300 - 500 litres,” said a student seeking anonymity.
Among the four campuses, the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), AC Tech and School of Architecture and Planning (SAP) receive water from Metro Water, while the fourth, Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), depends on groundwater, which, however, is fast depleting.
The university currently spends between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 4 lakh a month to procure water through private water tankers. This has caused financial constraints, said a university official. This crisis has begun even before the summer season, which will peak in May. “This has led to the decision to finish the syllabus as early as possible,” said university registrar S Ganesan.