HYDERABAD: Visualise a college hostel. A group of baddies occupy the room, prevent the students, for whom it is actually allotted, from entering it. And on top of it threaten them of consequences if they disobey their orders. Typical Bollywood stuff. And happens only in movies. Right?
No, you are dead wrong. Four students of Post Graduate College of Law, Basheerbagh were forced to endure such harrowing time when they tried to entered the room allotted to them in ‘D Hostel’ on Osmania University campus.
The incident, it seems, is not an isolated one though it as many as 25 students already being harassed in the same D Hostel. In May this year, around 25 students of the college pursuing five-year integrated course were allotted rooms in D Hostel. But due to the prevalent situation, most of them are staying either in rented accommodations or have “adjusted” in hostel rooms of other students.
One of the affected students speaking to Express said: “The non-boarders are occupying our rooms. Some of us have found acquaintances in the university who have allowed us to stay with them in their hostel rooms and others are living in far-off areas like LB Nagar and Kukatpally in private hostels.”
Who are these non-boarders ? The student said: “They include all sorts of people, from former students to even cab drivers, truck drivers and even policemen.” Due to lack of access to mess facility, the 25 students are forced to cook for themselves.
When contacted, Principal of Post Graduate College of Law, Basheerbagh, T Aparna said: “Five-year integrated course is a self-financed course. Students pursuing the course do not get hostel or mess facility. This was informed to them before admission but now they are demanding both. There have been proposals to university for changing the self-finance course into a regular course.”
Aparna further said, “Moreover, the money we receive from tuition fees will not prove enough to run the course with moot courts, guest lectures and other activities, as well as provide mess and hostel facility. I am in touch with university administration on the matter.”
When contacted, OU Registrar, Prof Ch Gopal Reddy said that although students pursuing self-finance courses in OU campus colleges are provided hostels and mess facility, the facilities are not yet provided to Basheerbagh law college students and that the university is working to address the problem.