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In a first, AU readies a common hall, pink toilets for girl students
PRAYAGRAJ: Women students of Allahabad University (AU) will finally get the first of its kind common hall and pink toilets, which were long overdue.
PRAYAGRAJ: Women students of Allahabad University (AU) will finally get the first of its kind common hall and pink toilets, which were long overdue.
The over 132-year-old central university had got a common hall and three pink toilets constructed near the music and performing arts department in its arts faculty and they would be formally inaugurated in the second week of January, informed AU public relation officer Chitranjan Kumar.
He said that the common room, the first of its kind in the university and to be used as a central facility, would have proper seating facility for the women students besides Hindi and English newspapers and RO-filtered potable water.
The central university has around 23,000 regular students on its campus, including 7,300 women. However, there were no common halls on the campus and students had been raising this demand since long.
The reason for the common hall and the pink toilets being constructed in the arts faculty is that it is the busiest on the campus with maximum number of women students, compared to the commerce, science and law faculties, said AU officials.
Law and commerce faculties have a common room each, though not on the lines of this new facility on the arts faculty campus. “If the demand comes for the same in science faculty, we will consider it sympathetically,” said the AU PRO.
The common hall, constructed over an area of 1,200 square ft, can accommodate over 100 students at a time.
“We often have long gaps between classes and lack a comfortable place to sit. Toilet is another major issue. Very few departments have the facility and most girls are forced to head to the women’s college campus located quite a distance away. So this is a very welcome step,” said Aditi Singh, an undergrad student.
The orders for construction of the common hall and pink toilets for the girls were issued by the vice-chancellor Prof RL Hangloo after a delegation of 15 women students from different departments met him in August and demanded for this facility. The construction which began in August is complete now. There is also a plan is to install a sanitary pad vending machine in the newly constructed common hall for the benefit of the female students, officials maintain.
Even former women students of AU are delighted over this new common hall and pink toilets. “I did my BA from AU in 1985 and MA after a gap in 2006. We always felt the need for a common hall with proper toilets but never got one despite this figuring prominently among the demands. I am glad that the present VC has taken steps to redress this long pending issue,” said Anandita Tewari, a senior teacher of Girl’s High School, Prayagraj.
