Utkal varsity gets tough; gives non-students five days to vacate hostel

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 1:

In view of repeated violence in the campus, the authorities Odisha’s Utkal University have finally asked the non-students to vacate hostel rooms and have threatened action against those who don’t abide by the order.

As per the decision taken at a high level meeting on Saturday, five days’ time will be given to the non-students to vacate the hostel. Police help would be sought to drive them out if they refuse to leave peacefully.

Vice Chancellor Ashok Kumar Dash, Registrar Susant Kumar Dash, PG Council Chairman Ranjan Kumar Bala and all hostel superintendents and wardens attended the meeting.

Eleven rooms in three of the hostels have been illegally encroached by non-students. They include six rooms in the Gopabandhu Chhatrabasa, three in Acharya Harihar Chhatrabasa and two in Madhusudan Chhatrabasa.

All these students belong to the student wing of a leading political party and their connections has made it difficult for university authorities to take police action against them or forcefully drive them out of campus.

The authorities have also decided to make some changes to the boarding arrangements of the students to avoid groupism in the campus hostels.

As per the latest update, Gopabandhu Chhatrabasa (Hostel No 1) will house only first year students of Post Graduate studies. Students of other years would stay in hostel number – 2, 3 and 4. Given that admissions to courses are on, the hostel room allocation procedure would be completed by August 15, university sources said.

The repair works at some of the hostels, however, are yet to be over. Even though repair works have been completed at five of the hostels including the ladies’ hostel, the repair and renovation works of hostel-4 is yet to be complete. The university authorities have asked the contractor to complete it within next one week.