CHENNAI: Panic-stricken students in hundreds and the public staged a protest after a portion of the ceiling of the Adi-Dravida Welfare Hostel for Girls in Royapuram crashed, injuring two, who were asleep in their first floor room on Saturday afternoon. Sources said Kalaivani (21), PG student at Bharati Arts and Science College in Broadway, Vinayaga Selvi (21), UG student at Queen Mary’s College, were the injured.
The two were rushed to the Government Stanley Hospital by fellow inmates. Hospital sources said the two students suffered injuries on their legs and hands. CT scan and other tests were taken for both to diagnose whether they had sustained any internal wounds. Thankfully, no such things flared up in the results.
Speaking to Express, a student, who stayed in the hostel for three years, said there are three floors in the building including ground floor, each with 10 rooms. About 30 students are accommodated in each room. Students from other districts studying here in schools, ITIs and colleges are staying in the hostel. Since the toilets are not suitable for use, the girls here take bath in open space. For this, they get up around 5 am. Most of the girls go to colleges with empty stomach as the food is not good.
“We have taken this matter to all the officials and submitted petitions, but nothing has changed. When students question about the quality of food and cleanliness, the hostel authorities yell back saying, this is free accommodation, cannot expect facilities here. People who are not interested to eat can go without eating, nothing bothers us,” the students complained.
Further, they said the hostel management did not allow the other inmates to rush the injured to a private hospital. As the girls did not have the money for the tests, they had to take them to Government Stanley Hospital. The hostel lacked even the basic amenities. The hostel and its premises would be kept clean only when some official visits the campus, otherwise it’s ignored. Though there are 10 toilets in each floor, there is no proper water facility and they are never cleaned. They are worse than public toilets. For a day, only two Metro Water tanks come to fill water which is insufficient to the hundreds of students, staying here, they said.
Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front(TNEUF) State Committee member S K Siva said the whole building should be renovated and students should be provided with better facilities. It is so disturbing that the girl students take bath in open space as toilets are not usable and there is no water facility. Officials should act without any delay, he added.