OU walkers uneasy as boarders ease out in the open

Severe shortage of water and crumbling infrastructure put students and joggers in an embarrassing situation

Hyderabad: Hundreds of hostel students in Osmania University who are facing undue hardships due to shortage of water and crumbling infrastructure find themselves in an embarrassing situation every morning as they are left with no option but to defecate in open areas on the campus.

The roads on the campus attract over a 500 walkers every day and over a hundred people visit the famous Landscape Garden for participating in a yoga session. There are seven hostels that are facing severe water shortage out of the total 12 hostels for men in the university. Students from Godavari, Krishnaveni, Kaveri, Maneru, E1 and E2 hostels are the most affected as the water supply lines have corroded resulting in leakage. In most bathrooms, the water simply flows down the drain.

A government employee, Krishna Rao, said morning walkers felt annoyed at the sight of ‘lota parade’ by students who search for a safe zone in the bushes to ease themselves. “The university must address such decisions on a priority basis. Such a practice is not healthy at a time when the State government is spending a fortune, building individual toilets in all rural households,” he said.

A hostel student, A Lingaswami, said that the situation at the boy’s hostels was very worrying. Students were being forced to save water in buckets to meet their basic needs. “The current situation is disappointing. We are afraid of the situation during examinations which will take off from the month end,” he said.

OU hostel student and TRSV state general secretary G Vijay Kumar said due to poor supply of water in hostel toilets, students are going through undue hardship of defecating in the open. “Frankly, it is very ‘insulting’ to us. The condition of E1 and E2 hostels is terrible as they get water hardly twice in a week,” he rued.

Responding to situation, Osmania University Chief Warden Hari Singh Naik said since most of the 11 borewells on the campus had dried up, they were supplying water through tankers. “We have spent Rs 2.3 crore to improve civic infrastructure facilities in the hostels. It will take some time to provide sufficient water to hostels,” he said.

A hostel warden on the condition of anonymity said that the large presence of non-boarders in hostels was also adding to the agony of the students here. “There are around 4,000 male boarders and more than 8,000 non-boarders staying in the university hostels,” he said.

OU Teacher's Association president B Satyanarayana said unless new water supply lines were laid, the problem could not be overcome. “The OU management has to allocate separate budget for improving the infrastructure in order to make an impactful change on the campus,” he said.