PANAJI
The Goa University (GU) women’s hostel occupants are upset over an order issued by the warden on March 12 that asks the students to shift to the new hostel on or before March 16. They have taken up the matter with the university Registrar Prof Y V Reddy.
The students who wrote to the registrar in protest on Wednesday feel that it is unfair to put the students through the inconvenience of shifting at exam time, especially when the university has other vacant buildings. Some of the students went to meet the Registrar with their grievance.
Although The Goan was unable to confirm the reason for this sudden order with the registrar as he did not attend to his phone, students claim that the shift is to enable election work to be held in their current premises.
A student told The Goan, “It doesn’t make sense to put us through the inconvenience of shifting at the end of the semester when we’ll be out of there by the end of April. If this is to do with election work, then there are several other buildings lying vacant on the campus.” Students also feel the move is unjustified at a time when they all need to prepare for exams.
Moreover, the new hostel into which they are being asked to shift into, isn’t fully ready with all the facilities the students would need, said a student.
The letter submitted to the registrar reads, “We urge you to consider the situation. Our ISAs (Intra-Semester Assessments) are on, and also the semester exams are approaching.” The students also narrated the lack of basic amenities in the new hostel.
The letter was signed by 33 of the hostel occupants.
Students also have to shift all their belongings on foot to the new designated area which is around a kilometer away from the existing location.
The order issued by the hostel warden reads, “As per the Registrar’s instructions, all the inmates are hereby requested to shift to the new hostel on or before March 16, 2019 (evening.)” No reason for the same has been mentioned on the order.
After the meeting, a student said that the registrar was very co-operative with their request not to have them shifted at this time of the year, and said he would try and settle the situation without inconveniencing them.
