HYDERABAD: Osmania University on Saturday snapped power and water supply to five hostels on Saturday in a bid to oust the illegal hostel dwellers (non-boarders). This action followed a notice issued on July 11 which had informed that such a move will be taken if non-boarders do not vacate the hostels voluntarily.
The move by invited a fierce backlash by several students as some regular students were also staying in those five hostels. Many students staged a protest outside the residence of university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof S Ramachandram on Saturday. Police was brought in to bring the situation under control.
Hours later, the university accepted to continue power and water supply but only till July 23. When contacted, Prof Ramachandram said, “We will cut the power and water supply again after July 23. There are some people who are staying in the hostels illegaly, burdening the infrastructure and causing inconvenience to genuine students. Some are even renting out hostel rooms. Such kind of activities will not be tolerated and we will ensure that the non-boarders do not continue to occupy hostels.”
Manavatha Roy, Chairman of Telangana Nirudyoga Vidyarthi JAC said, “If the university wants to remove non-boarders out of the hostels they could have taken some other measure. Genuine students who have been allotted hostels and are staying there should not be troubled by cutting down water and power supply. Already the hostel mess are not functioning.
There are various exams lined up including Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) on July 23 for which students are preparing. We put forward the argument in front of university officials who accepted it and have agreed to continue power and water supply till July 23.”