What’s the hoopla over girls’ hostel no. 10 fee?
Amarjot Kaur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 25
Fee reduction at Panjab University’s Neerja Bhanot Girls’ Hostel was the main demand of both right-wing ABVP and left-leaning SFS as student parties rued the exclusion of student representatives from PU’s top governing bodies at the Syndicate meeting held recently.
The newly constructed girls’ hostel number 10 (GH-10), the expenditure of which was borne by the cash-strapped varsity, was opened in June last year. Currently, it houses 326 students and there is not a single EWS student at the hostel.
In February last year, the Syndicate had approved a marginal hike of Rs 6,330 per semester from Rs 5,980 per semester in the rent of all hostels. The warden of GH-10, Archana Chauhan, said, “The hostel fee depends on whether one wants a room with attached bathroom (Rs 5,400 per month) or with a common bathroom (Rs 3,400 a month). Also, no rent is charged from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe students. In fact, PhD students, who have scholarships, pay only Rs 5,000 a month.”
Talking about the hostel’s financial situation, DSW (men), Emanual Nahar, said he had submitted a proposal to reduce the rent of GH-10 to the university authorities. “The university has invested a lot of money on this hostel and the decision pertaining to its fee structure was taken by the Syndicate and Senate last year. Mostly, the university gets grants for constructing a new building, but this hostel is run on self-sustenance basis. Also, it’s non-subsidised. In fact, only two departments, Centre for Skill Development and Education and Department of Physical Education, gave grants for this hostel so, we have one floor for students from these departments,” he said.
DSW (women) Neena Caplash said, “The university has already exceeded the UGC limit on the ratio of teaching and non-teaching employees. So, the non-teaching staff at GH-10 is outsourced from an agency and they are hired on a contract basis. Their salaries are paid through students’ fee as this hostel runs on a self-sustaining mode. Also, we didn’t allocate rooms for this hostel; they were taken on demand and merit. Unlike other hostels, the rooms here are more spacious with attached bathrooms, so given the facilities, it’s much cheaper than PGs,” she said.
7 months on, proposal awaits fate
In August last year, a committee had submitted a proposal demanding reduction in fee at GH-10 and International Students Hostel. It was suggested that rent of rooms with common washrooms be reduced to Rs 120 from Rs 200, development fund to be charged at Rs 700 instead of Rs 1,000 and maintenance charges be trimmed to Rs 300. For rooms with attached washrooms, it was proposed that rent be lowered by Rs 100, and development fund, along with maintenance charges, be slashed by Rs 300 each. A cut of Rs 500 each on electricity and facility charges for the inmates of international hostel was also recommended. However, for seven months now, the proposal awaits its fate at the hands of the university’s governing bodies — Syndicate and Senate.
