Anger over accommodation is simmering within NIT-Patna students.

It has been over 11 years since Bihar College of Engineering got the NIT tag but the institute is yet to meet the basic needs of students. 

Girl students at the institute face the greatest problem, as they have to live in inhospitable conditions.
They staged a demonstration on the institute premises on Wednesday evening in support of their demand to improve hostel facilities.

NIT-Patna has two hostel blocks meant for girls — one with a big hall measuring around 30ft by 15ft, and having 14 beds, and another with 20 rooms for 120 students. The institute has around 1,000 girl students at present.

Highlighting the accommodation problem, a fourth-year girl student of NIT-Patna said: “The institute suffers from severe shortage of hostel rooms for students, as there are six beds in one room to accommodate six students.”

According to the student, a room measures 15ft by 10ft and is too small to accommodate six beds, leaving no space for even a cupboard. Each room has a small study table where six students try and adjust to work.
As there are no cupboards or wardrobes, girls are left with no option than to keep their clothes or other essential belongings in the bed-box.

The students not only suffer from accommodation problems but also insufficient number of washrooms and water filters. 

Echoing the views of her senior, a third-year student said: “As there are only eight washrooms for 120 students, often students get late for class.” The insufficient number of rooms is not only a concern for girls in the institute. Boys, too, face similar problems. There are three boys’ hostels — new engineering hostel, engineering hostel 1 and engineering hostel 2, that have 275 rooms, but these are not enough to accommodate all.

Varun Kumar, a fourth-year civil engineering student, said: “In NIT-Patna, around 3,000 students study but the institute provides accommodation to less than 1,000 students. Even those students live in pitiable conditions with a room having three to four beds.”

Owing to the accommodation problems, many students of NIT-Patna have taken rooms in private lodges at Ashok Rajpath and Bhikna Parari area but girl students face a problem getting rooms.

To meet the accommodation problem, NIT-Patna is building two separate G+5 hostel blocks for boys and girls. 
NIT-Patna director Asok De told The Telegraph: “The construction work of two hostel blocks is going on and will be available to students by January-February next year.”

NIT-Patna has also taken two floors on rent at Kurji area to accommodate the girl students, but as 

Kurji is around 7km away from the institute, many students prefer to live within the institute premises despite the problems. 

Sources said living in a private accommodation is not only unsafe for students especially girls, but also is expensive. 

The yearly hostel fee at NIT-Patna is Rs 12,000, and a student depending upon his choice of food has to pay an additional Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,000 per month. However, a student has to pay around Rs 3,000 a month if he chooses to live in a private accommodation near Ashok Rajpath area.