Campus cauldron: Utkal fails to evict outsiders from hostels

BHUBANESWAR: The Utkal University is currently besieged on many fronts. The campus clashes on July 24 and 25, in which miscreants attacked students, are only two in a series of incidents of campus violence here. While outsiders living on the fringes of the sprawling campus are being blamed for the latest fracas, another set of - outsiders' those in the hostels - has the authorities worried.
In spite of repeated attempts, the university has failed to expel non-students from its hostels.
"We are conducting checks to identify non-bona fide students. As admissions are on now, we are being more cautious about allotting hostels," said vice-chancellor Ashok Das. At present, there are around 50 non-student boarders in the university.
"This year, we have taken steps to end this problem once and for all. We have repaired the hostels and they will be ready by the first week of August. We now have a full-time warden and two deputy wardens to oversee hostel security," said Ranjan Bal, PG council chairman at Utkal.
In 2013, the university had planned to initiate criminal proceedings against illegal boarders. It had made students submit an affidavit promising not to entertain non-students in theirooms. Little has changed though, as boarders - some preparing for competitive exams, some staying on because they have nowhere else to go and some to further political interests - continue to use hostel facilities. In September last year, governor SC Jamir had rapped the university for failing to crack down on illegal boarders.
"There are many poor students. Their relatives stay in the hostels," said Rajesh Raj, outgoing president of the Biju Chhatra Janata Dal-dominated students' union. The university's 12 hostels can accommodate around 3,000 students. Non-student boarders are mostly restricted to the boys' hostels that have many empty rooms, he added.
A student pays around Rs 4,000 per year to stay in the Utkal hostel. Another premier institution, National Law University Odisha (NLUO), presents a striking contrast. "We pay around Rs 22,000 annually as hostel charges (excluding mess fee). No illegal boarders can stay here," said Anup Pattnaik, an LLM student at NLUO.
Outsiders on a college or university campus can be a potent source of tension, as exemplified by two of the most volatile campus agitations in the past one year. While authorities of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, blamed ex-students staying illegally in its hostels for adding fuel to the fire raging against the appointment of Gajendra Chauha, Jadavpur University's 'Hokkolorob' movement, too, saw ex-students, some who never left its hostels, taking a proactive role. The Pune institution issued an order last week to expel 44 illegal boarders. Some, it was found, had stayed on in spite of having graduated years ago.