Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Jan 27: The second set of staff quarters at Kashmir University’s Mirza Bagh campus have not been constructed for the past 30 years since the contractor abandoned the project in the middle of it.
Beginning in the early 1990s, the construction of a dozen staff quarters at the Mirza Bagh was started with the goal of accommodating extra staff members in addition to the 100 sets that are already in place.
“The initial phase of the construction went without a hitch, but there were several delays as it almost reached the first story. However, when the brickwork for the first story was finished, construction work ceased and has never resumed,” a Faculty member said.
An official from Kashmir University said that 120 teaching and non-teaching staff members had been waiting for accommodation for the past ten years, underscoring the significance of these flats. He added that the Varsity has advertised approximately 180 openings, including those for assistant professors, associate professors, and professors, and these positions will be filled over the course of the next year. “They would also need accommodation, which the institution does not offer, so they would also have to rely on private housing,” he said.
The inmates of the quarters complained that every time a visitor approaches the campus, he is met by the awful scene of these decaying buildings. “The structures have become an eyesore as a result of the plants and grass that have grown over it,” a faculty member said.
He expressed concern over their safety due to antisocial individuals, such as drug addicts, frequenting the vacant buildings. “This is not just a problem of safety for our family, but it also raises the prospect of our children being exposed to bad company,” the Faculty member said.
Nissar Ahmad, the Registrar of Kashmir University, told the Excelsior that the structures had been abandoned by the contractor in the early 1990s and had remained that way ever since. “We have repeatedly requested the contractor to resume the work on the flats, but he has moved to court over some issues, and the matter is currently in court,” he said.
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