FALLING APART: (From above) A student shows the dilapidated condition of Jackson Hostel. The entrance of Cavendish House. Pictures by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Sept. 24: A single, small, almost dilapidated and dirty room with just one table for a maximum of five people. Plaster falling off the roof. The dirt and filth almost resembling the Commonwealth Games village in New Delhi.

Welcome to the hostels that are home to students of Patna College.

The mess of Jackson Hostel is in a mess. Housing 82 students, the mess is actually a single, claustrophobic, dirty room which has one rickety table that can seat five people at one time.

The roof gives the picture of falling plaster, which can seriously injure students anytime.

According to the students, the dirt and filth is unbearable. Moreover, the room also serves as a bedroom for employees working at the mess.

As soon as one enters the hostel, the stench of rotten vegetables and dirt dumped outside the mess hits the senses.

Cleanliness and hygiene is a matter of choice for mess employees.

Students say they are tired of complaining and every plea of theirs has fallen on deaf ears.

“What to do? We have got tired now. Khane ke liye line lagana parta hai (We have to make a queue to eat). The food is pathetic here. Dal and curry are as plain as water and the rice smells. If you are living in this hostel, you are bound to suffer from jaundice or cholera. At present there are five students on leave because they have fallen ill,” a boarder said.

The hostels under Patna University, once home to the state’s best and brightest, are no better.

The worst part is the food and the condition of the mess. Uneatable and unhygienic is the students’ verdict.

Surprisingly, most of the hostels don’t even have a mess and the students are forced to cook in their respective rooms.

Asked about the poor condition of the hostels, university officials said there is a shortage of hostel funds and then accepted that the situation is indeed deplorable.

However, passing the buck, they blamed the hotel superintendents, who, according to them, never complain about the real problem.

The hostel superintendents in turn blamed the university officials, alleging that they don’t provide funds in spite of repeated complaints.

The Telegraph toured some of the hostels of Patna University and what it saw was shocking.

The Vishweshwar Bhawan Hostel of BN College does not even have a mess.

“There was one mess a long time ago but it does not function now. After it closed down, the university or the college never took any initiative to start it again,” said Arvind Kumar, a BN College boarder.

Housing nearly 300 students, this is one among the three hostels of BN College.

“What can we do? Every room has a heater or an oven. We don’t have a choice but to cook on our own. Sometimes we have to skip our breakfast because if we start cooking we will surely miss our classes. There have been so many requests, many protests but nothing happened. We are busy cooking most of the time,” said Sita Ram Pandey, a student of BN College and also a boarder.

Chandra Bhaskar Bhushan a boarder at Jackson Hostel, one of the hostels of Patna College, said: “Every time we sit to eat, we keep looking upwards as the roof can fall anytime. The plaster is peeling off because water keeps seeping through the walls. Officials, I think, are waiting for a disaster to happen. With just one table for 82 students, there is a queue all the time and sometimes it leads to a squabble,” he said.

Ram Kumar Singh, also a Jacksonite, said: “The dal is nothing less than water. The curry is the same. Vegetables are never served. The worst part is the hygiene. We don’t even get clean water to drink. Aftermath, students fall ill almost everyday.”

The New Hostel under Patna College has a similar tale to tell.

“We pay Rs 1,200 for vegetarian food and Rs 1,500 for a so-called non-vegetarian meal every month. The boarders from New Hostel come down to eat at the mess at Jackson hostel and there is a huge crowd. Sometimes we behave like refugees we see on television fighting for food,” said Roshan Kumar, a student.

Kasi Kanti, who cooks food at Jackson Hostel, stays in the same room along with his son, who happens to be his helper.

“What do I do? I can provide good food but the administration needs to take adequate steps. They have not even given me a place to stay,” he said.

Hiralal Mandal, the hostel superintendent of Jackson, said around three months ago, he, along a few others of the same rank, went to the vice-chancellor and requested him not to allot rooms to new students in the new academic year.

“We also urged him to build infrastructure for hostels. He did not pay any heed to our request. I have installed a new table fan so they can get some air while eating. The university should help us and provide us with resources,” he said.

The Minto Hostel, which also houses 200 students of Patna College, did not have a mess till a month ago.

“We took our own initiative and hired a private mess. Each student pays Rs 50 to the owner per day for food served twice. Since it is our own initiative, we ourselves taking care of it,” said Yuvraj Kumar, a Patna College student.

“The quality of food was bad earlier. But now we have taken it in our own hands and it has improved a bit. But a lot of improvements are needed. The mess building has no basic amenities like fans, proper lighting or water. There is also a serious shortage of utensils. The hostel always had a private mess set up by students. In spite of that, the college or the university is never concerned about the problem,” he said.

The hostels of Patna Science College are comparatively better.

“Suvikarn Kumar, a boarder of the Cavendish House, one of the hostels of the college, said the food quality is indeed good. We are charged Rs 1,300 per month. The food is good and we don’t have any problem when it comes to the mess,” he said.

Pramod Kumar Poddar, dean, students’ welfare, Patna University, accepted that the conditions were bad in most of the hostels and mess under Patna College. “It is not bad, it is worse,” he said.