The hostel, which is situated behind the City’s Civil Court opposite Bangalore University’s Central College is devoid of all basic amenities and is in a state of complete neglect.
UVCE is the only engineering college which is still affiliated to the Bangalore University and the hostel too is administrated by the varsity. The dilapidated hostel was built in 1917 and has not been renovated in over 25 years.
There is no drinking water at the hostel. Students said that despite repeated complaints to the hostel warden and the Principal of UVCE, no action had been taken. The students use the contaminated water stored in the sump for all purposes including drinking.
There is no lighting around the hostel campus and no electricity beyond the confines of the rooms. The toilets, incidentally are outside.
There are a total of eight toilets for 300 students and there is no maintenance or regular cleaning. Hemraj, a student at the college says, “Every morning there is a long queue at two toilets because they are the only toilets that are usable. We live in complete squalor.” Ranjith, a final year engineering student says that rooms meant to house two students have been crammed with six to seven students and in some cases ten.
Manish Kumar, a final engineering student at UVCE said “The students who live in the government hostel run by the College have not been provide food or drinking water for the past five months,” he said.
Messy affair
The mess where the food is cooked and served is in even worse state. The hostel mess, although closed for five months now, reeks of rodents and bugs. “We have made innumerable complaints but there has been no repair work or cleaning. In fact we were asked to vacate the rooms after our examinations to renovate the hostel but no work has been done,” says Murali Krishna, a final year engineering student.
“There is absolutely no lighting in the campus and it is pitch dark outside the rooms. And the switches inside the room are altogether another horror show. I’m a student of electrical engineering and it is almost as if I am doing an experiment with electric shocks,” he jokes. Students also allege that the funds, which are allocated to the hostel are not being utilised and are being misappropriated.
The hostel warden, Seethappa, a Selection Grade Lecturer at UVCE’s Mechanical Engineering Department says that it is the duty of the Engineering Department of Bangalore University to carry out the repairs and maintain the hostel. But, students allege that Seethappa is often evasive and there is complete lack of transparency on the utilisation of funds. Satish, another final year engineering student said “He never gives us the right answers and says one thing officially and another unofficially,” he said.
The Registrar in-charge of Bangalore University, T R Subramanya told Deccan Herald that this is the first time the students have approached the varsity. “It is actually the duty of the Principal of UVCE to make sure the facilities are made available to the students. But, now the repair work at the hospital will be undertaken on a priority basis,” he says. He added that engineers have already been told to fix the sewers and drinking water.