More than hundred students of Dr. Ambedkar Adi Dravidar Girls’ Hostel, Chinna Chokkikulam, walked out of their hostel and marched towards the Collectorate to represent their grievances of water shortage and lack of proper bathroom facilities in the hostel.
However, the students were intercepted by police and Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department Officials at the Collectorate entrance, who told them that the Collector was not available but collected the petition from them.
The Collector was available, said an official when contacted.
The hostel inmates after patiently waiting all these days decided to come out of their hostel and take up the issue with the Collector, who, they feel, alone can solve the problem, as it had not been adequately represented, said a hostel student.
Irregular water supply
The major complaints of the girl students were that they faced irregular supply of water and shortage of support staff. Though the policy note of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department says that it is mandatory that every hostel should have water filters, here the water filters are dysfunctional.
The Hindu had already reported the woes of hostel students (February, 14, 2013) but the students said, the filters had not been replaced till now.
The students alleged that shortage of staff had resulted in students throwing on the roles of cook and cleaning toilets. The lavatory facilities are not adequate in the hostel and requested that the authorities concerned build overhead water tanks to meet the water requirement.
Most of the students staying in these hostels are first generation learners and hail from working class and agricultural labourer family backgrounds from Dalit castes.
The students with a lot of hesitation shared that they were asked by the hostel staff not to stay in hostels on weekends and leave for their homes.
Fearing backlash from the officials, the students remained silent over the issue and it had been almost a year, so we decided to meet the Collector said one of the students who wished to maintain anonymity.
The hostel warden, when contacted, said that there was water shortage but it had been the situation across the city and denied other allegations levelled by the students.
