Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Dec 13: Even though the class work has started in several departments at Kashmir University (KU), the hostel and special library services continue to remain out of bounds for the students.
Both boys and girls hostels at the KU stand closed as of now, with students who have been registered for the hostel facility forced to put up in rented accommodations.
“My luggage is there at the hostel, but the hostel remains closed since August. With examinations and class work starting at several department, we are being deprived of the facility putting us to great inconvenience,” students form KU’s Law Department told Excelsior.
With the non-availability of the hostel facilities, the students said that they are now forced to put up in the rented accommodations around the Varsity where they are paying more than normal.
While KU’s Provost, Professor Aijaz Ahmad-overlooking the functioning of the hostels-refused to comment on the issue, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Varsity told Excelsior that the students were not showing up and that the class work was yet to start at the Varsity.
However, his claim was refuted by the students of several departments who said that they have been continuously asking the authorities to open the hostel facilities for them.
With regard to the library services, KU’s 24*7 facilitation centre also continues to remain shut since August. The centre has been created for students where they can study round the clock. While all the students would get benefitted at the centre, the facility was being majorly used by the hostel students and those preparing for competitive exams round the clock.
The students, especially those who were otherwise putting up at the hostel, are saying that the KU administration has locked up the facility for them. “While we used to be in the hostel, we used to go the 24*7 and study there till late hours, but we are not able to do that now; they are telling us that there is no internet, we don’t have to use the internet”, they said.
Dean Students Welfare, Rayees Qadri, told Excelsior that the students should submit a representation to him so that he can do the required, while as the KU’s Chief Librarian G M Peerzada said that the Centre was shut due to the non-availability of internet services.