MU hostels’ space crunch puts new students in a fix

Mumbai: With the fresh batch of 2018-19 joining Mumbai University (MU) fresh trouble is brewing for students coming from other parts of Maharashtra. They will join the queue of existing varsity students looking for accommodation in hostels that are already packed.

The only boys’ hostel in MU’s Kalina campus is under construction while the other three hostels are already packed. When this newspaper contacted the woman students of one of the hostels they claimed that the rooms are cramped with an extra two to three students per room.

“We can’t blame anyone because at least we have a room. Many have not even been accommodated. How-ever, the rooms are messy with too many people, books, household items, notes etc,” said Shrishti Jawahar, a student. According to her, this is the scenario in all hostels on the campus

The three hostels on the Kalina campus are M.D.K Karve Girls Hostel, Pan-dita Ramabai Girls Hostel and Savitribai Phule Girls Hostel. The hostel fees, according MU’s official website, start from Rs 1,100 per term, which means for an entire year they start from Rs 2,200 excluding electricity charges, mess depreciation charges, mo-ney and lock deposits. When it comes to renting a room in a building or apartment, a student would need to spend under Rs 10,000 at least. “It becomes very difficult to stay outside the hostel as it becomes very expensive. Moreover, many societies are hesitant about renting out houses to only girls,” said Shruti Thakur, a student.  

In this year’s budgetary provision, the varsity allocated Rs 3 crore for the construction of a new girls’ hostel. Yet, there is no update from the university. The PRO of MU said, “One hostel is almost ready while two others are under construction.”