Rising hostel fees and shabby living conditions pushed the students to stage a protest
Feeling shortchanged: SP College students protested against having to pay higher hostel fees for unchanged filthy quarters and poor facilities. Pic\Mohan Patil.
Nearly 80 students residing in SP College’s boys’ hostel staged a protest against the poor quality of living conditions there on Monday.
Feeling shortchanged: SP College students protested against having to pay higher hostel fees for unchanged filthy quarters and poor facilities. Pic\Mohan Patil.
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The students alleged that the college authority is ignorant of various problems such as bedbugs, contaminated water supply and dirty toilets. Incidentally, the college management recently increased the hostel fees from Rs 11,800 to Rs 23,700 per year.
The higher hostel fee is one of the major factors behind the students’ outburst.
Studentspeak
“It is dangerous to stay in the hostel. The polluted water has resulted in continuous ill-health of students. Forget locking the door, as the locks are broken; even the doors and windows are broken. The toilets are filthy. If they are providing such poor living conditions, why are we expected to pay so much?” said Atul Sonavane, an SYBA student living in the hostel.
The students had approached the administration about the poor hostel facilities earlier, but to no avail.
“How can they increase fees so drastically now, giving development as reason? We had gone to the authorities with our complaint around 8 months ago. They had promised to look into the issues and also ensured that a meeting will be held with students to know what issues they are facing in the hostel. But nothing happened,” said Vishal Satav, a TYBA student.
Despite repeated attempts, SP College principal Dr Padmaja Ghorpade was not available for comment.
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