Denied a hostel room, 15 boys forced to sleep in the open.
More than 15 students of S & SS Ghandhy Polytechnic College in Surat have to sleep on footpaths like beggars as there are no rooms for them in the college hostel. They have been spending their nights in the open for the last several months.
The group, which comprises second and third-year students, spends the entire day on the college campus, and attends classes. However, once classes are over for the day, the students find themselves without a roof for the night. As a result, they spend half the night wandering through the streets aimlessly, and when footpaths empty of people, they use it to sleep.
“Our college has three hostel blocks which together have the capacity to house more than 150 students,” said Dhaval Pareekh, a third year student of the college. “But we were not given accommodation in any of the three blocks.”
Pareekh said they had told the college principal about their plight several times and, each time, the principal had promised to solve their problem.
“As it is against the rules to stay in the hostel without permission, we are forced to sleep on footpaths,” he added.
Pareekh said their plight had become worse as their exams had started. “Because of lack of accommodation, we are forced to study under streetlights on the pavements,” he said.
He further said that even the footpaths were free only after 10 in the night, as there is continuous movement of people on the pavements till then. “Every morning, we have a tough time finding a toilet and a bathroom where we can get ready for the day,” Pareekh said.
The homeless students have no relatives in Surat nor can they afford rented accommodation. “Hence we have no option but to live in inhuman conditions,” said Rakesh Patel, another student.
The college principal, HI Patel, said no outstation student had been denied accommodation, but he conceded that all rooms of one block of the hostel could not be used as it was undergoing repairs. “The hostel block is in very bad shape and is undergoing repairs,” he said. “We have shifted students from that block to the other two blocks. The hostel has accommodation for 110 students only but, in all, more than 300 students are staying there these days.” The principal said that, at present, the college hostel doesn’t have enough rooms to accommodate all students. “But we are getting one block repaired so that more students can be accommodated,” he said.
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