Aggrieved girl students of the Utkal University staged a dharna in front of the Vice-Chancellor’s (VC) office here holding empty buckets in their hands in protest against poor water and electricity supply to hostels.
The inmates of the Sailabala Girls’ Hostel held a rally in the campus in the morning and later gheraoed VC Prof Ashok Das for hours alleging irregularities in water and electricity supply to the hostel despite their repeated appeals to ensure the basic facilities.
The students demanded 24-hour electricity and water supply in the hostels and repair of the hostel roads and other infrastructures. “We have lodged complaints with the authorities more than a hundred times about the poor water and electricity supply. The authorities are not listening to us and have been giving us false assurances. There are frequent power cuts in the hostel hampering our study,” said Utkal University girls’ hostel body general secretary Madhu.
The students decided to continue their protest till the VC gives them a written assurance regarding solution to their problems. The university authorities assured immediate remedial measures.