After having given a written assurance to the students that it will improve the living and working conditions in the college and hostel, Safdarjung Hospital authorities claim to have swung into action to provide clean drinking water, electricity and working lifts. It has also assured the students that 50 rooms in the new hostel would be provided to them by this month-end.
Apprehensions
Though happy about the work in progress, the students point out that “the move seems more like a stop-gap arrangement than a long-term measure to solve the problems”.
“We ended our strike after being assured that our problems would be addressed at the earliest. However, we want a long-term solution. While the hospital authorities managed to get one of the lifts in the college building functional last week, it is out of order again. The central air-conditioning system in the college building has been out of order for the past one year and even after having got it repaired the unit isn't still fully functional. Water coolers have been brought in and we have been assured that we will be getting clean drinking water soon,” said senior a student of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College.
“Even in the case of the hostel, though we have been told that we will be given rooms and electricity will be provided by generators, we still have no security or housekeeping in place to ensure that the hostel runs in a proper manner. Also, we have had a bad experience with the college building being run on generators,” he added.
The authorities have assured that all measures are being put in place to ensure that the students are not inconvenienced. “The New Delhi Municipal Council has assured us that power supply to the hostel will be provided within six weeks and talks are on to work out a permanent solution to the problem. The other demands of the students too are being looked into,'” said hospital Medical Superintendent Dr. Jagdish Prasad.
