NIT-Patna students will get hostels as New Year gift.

The institute will add three more hostels accommodating students who, owing to space crunch, had to settle for private accommodation. By January-end, two hostel blocks, one for girls and the other for postgraduate and PhD students, will be ready. The third one, a G+10 (10-storeyed) block meant for undergraduate students will be ready by June.

According to sources, the girls' hostel block (G+5) will accommodate nearly 350 students while the G+3 block meant for postgraduate and PhD students will accommodate 120 students.

Sanjay Kumar, a senior teacher at NIT-Patna who has been made the coordinator of the construction work of the hostels, said: "The functioning of the G+5 hostel block for girls will be of great help. Around 120 students live at Kurji, 5km away, and other areas at various apartments hired by the NIT administration for hostel purpose. Once the girls' hostel is ready, these girls will be shifted there. The hostel will also benefit girls' living at overcrowded NIT hostels within the campus.

The NIT-Patna campus has two hostels meant for girls - one with a big hall measuring around 30ftx15ft with 14 beds and another with 20 rooms for 120 students. The institute has around 1,000 girl students.

On several occasions, girl students of the institute had staged protests demanding better accommodation.

In June this year, NIT-Patna students demonstrated in front of the director's chamber demanding hostel accommodation.

A fourth-year girl student of NIT-Patna said: "The institute has an acute shortage of hostel rooms. There are six beds in one room."

According to the student, a room measuring 15ftx10ft and is too small to accommodate six beds, leaving no space for even a closet. Each room has only one study table where six students try and adjust.

Even students living at Kurji hostel are happy with the upcoming hostels on the campus. A third-year undergraduate BTech student living at Kurji hostel said: "A lot of time is wasted in moving from Kurji to NIT and from NIT to Kurji. Once we shift to the hostel within the campus, we would be able to utilise time in other academic activities."

The student added that living on the campus would benefit students, as they would be able to utilise laboratory and library services on the premises for longer hours.

The new block will also help postgraduate and PhD students, who live at private lodges on Ashok Rajpath owing to lack of accommodation.

Santosh Kumar, an MTech student, said: "Living outside at private lodges is not only unhygienic but also costly as these charge Rs 3,000 or above for a bed."

At the NIT hostels, the cost would come down to Rs 1,000 per month. There are 90 rooms in the G+3 block. First-year students will have to share rooms with their classmates. Second-year postgraduate students will get single-room occupancy.