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Why are Panjab University students up in arms over allotment of hostel rooms?
Accommodation on campus, close to classes, with much cheaper rooms (about Rs 6,500 per semester or six months), is much desired.
Students of Punjab University (PU) held a protest on Monday to demand more transparency in allotment of hostel rooms on campus. A demand-supply gap between the number of hostel rooms and applicants has always existed in the university.
Accommodation on campus, close to classes, with much cheaper rooms (about Rs 6,500 per semester or six months), is much desired. Rentals outside can be very expensive, with many paying guest owners or landlords charging Rs 4,000 (without food) to Rs 11,000 (with AC and food) a month for a room.
What’s the problem?
PU students want more transparency in the hostel allotment process, preferably done online. Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) at Monday’s protests demanded that details of students getting hostel rooms be uploaded on an online portal to enable them to figure out how the allotments were done.
Processes followed now?
The dean, students’ welfare (DSW), Emanual Nahar insists that PU follows a transparent system. Students get hostel seats on the basis of their scores so merit lists and waiting lists are prepared at the university’s departments according to which rooms are allotted.
Why ‘transparency’?
Students allege that “favourites” get out-of-turn accommodation as “guests” at the hostel. Those on the waiting list keep waiting as no information on the “guests” is provided to them. Also, there’s no way to find out which student is on the merit list, which means any “favourite,” can bypass them, they allege.
Will the online process help?
If the hostel accommodation process goes online, students say they will be able to see the merit lists of their departments. Also, applying for a hostel seat and payment processes will become easier.
PU’s response?
PU has created an online portal and shown it to PUCSC members. Nahar, however, says they cannot share details of the students publicly as the information can be misused, something that PUCSC president Kanupriya terms as “illogical.” Students’ names, department and room number needs to be uploaded for transparency, she adds.
What’s the situation now?
At present there are eight hostels for boys and 10 for girls, with around 2,500 seats for the former and 3,000 for the latter. However, there are many more students living there after “adjustment” of seats. Nahar says they are getting details of the number of students, even “guests,” to upload on the website within a week.
PU plans to build more hostels. An e-tender for a new girls’ hostel has been floated and the university has also submitted proposals for more hostels to ease the situation.
