The state varsity at Kalina is crippled with insufficient resources and improper maintenance of its facilities for the students. Washrooms, for instance, are in bad shape in many of the departments with student complaints not getting any heed.
Students concern for unhygienic washroom
“The washrooms are in a terrible shape but we are now accustomed to it. They are smelly and dirty,” said Tehsiba S, a student in the Oceanography department. The Oceanography department, along with the Architecture, mural science, and Department of Communication and Journalism are in a single building at the health centre, which is located right at the entry gate and has only one dedicated washroom for men as well as women. “The faculty washroom is separate but there’s only one washroom for girls and boys respectively,” Tehsiba added.
FPJ went to the Kalina campus to fact-check the conditions of the washroom and found that ironically to its name, ‘health centre’ probably has the worst maintained washroom in the MU’s Kalina campus. The men's washroom was also leaking water with strong odour engulfing the whole place.
Ishaan Gambhir, an student of the Academic of Theater Arts said, “all the students preferred not going to the washroom, but god forbid if there’s an emergency and you have no option but to use it.
Same situation at other department
The situation is similar in the law department, wherein students use the theatre department’s washroom, which is comparatively in a better condition. “When we were in first year, we wrote many letters of complaints to our head of the department but no change was initiated,” said Muskan Sharma, second year law student.
On checking the department of distance and open learning, FPJ learned that the washrooms in that building were, although not smelly, lacking basic facilities like a hand wash. The disabled person’s washroom was also locked in that building.
In the department of sociology, washrooms for disabled people are designed in such a way that the ramp won’t fit a wheelchair. Harshita Nair from the sociology department said, “the wheelchair doesn’t fit inside the ramp because of how small it is, and the lift in our department does not work as well, thus rendering disabled students helpless.”
On reaching out to officials from MU, they said that it is because of lack of complaints. “We have not received any complaints regarding this. I think the issue here is that even if the students complain to their departments, the complaint does not reach us,” an official from the JD department in the Dr.Ambedkar Bhawan said. The students on the other hand, claim that despite multiple complaints, this has been continuously overlooked by the authorities.
