Patna University will start allotting beds to students who want to lodge at Saidpur hostel, after the festive vacation.

The news has come as great relief for students who live in private lodges at present.

Pankaj Sharma, a first-year student of history, said: "The varsity's decision to allot rooms at Saidpur will be great for students who come to study from distant places as it will be cheaper."

A student living in a private lodge in Ashok Rajpath or Bazaar Samiti - which is the hub for coaching centres and lodges of Patna - needs to dish out between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 for a bed.

Apart from this, they also need to spend on food. Patna University, on the other hand, charges about Rs 1,000 for boarding. The cost of food is also lower.

The university took the decision to allot rooms after a high court division bench of acting Chief Justice I.A. Ansari and Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh last Thursday directed the administration to complete allotment of hostel beds within a month.

The Saidpur premises of Patna University, which was cleared of encroachment, has nine hostel blocks, of which only three are suitable for boarding. The first block, with 100 beds, will be allotted to students of science and vocational courses. The sixth block, with 100 seats, will be made available to arts and social science students. The ninth block, which has 60 seats, will be available for research scholars.

Jayanti Sircar, a Patna College economics teacher and dean of students' welfare of Patna University, told The Telegraph said: "The university has directed the respective heads of the departments to collect hostel application forms from students. The heads, hostel superintendent and the dean will allot the rooms after going through the documents of the students."?

Rooms will be allotted based on the student's academic record. The university will also look into the students' police records, if any.

The university is planning to erect a boundary wall around the campus to prevent squatters from entering the premises. The Saidpur campus is notorious for hooligans.