A view of the Adivasi Girls’ Hostel in Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Feb. 11: The Adivasi girls’ hostel on the premises of Ranchi Women’s College is overcrowded.

Nearly 120 students are living in rooms while it can ideally accommodate only 100.

The Bhagirathi Adivasi Balika Mahavidyalaya Chatravas has a capacity of 100 students with four beds in every room.

However, the hostel has more than 120 students residing there and each room has as many as eight occupants.

The beds are rusty and infrastructure dismal. The welfare department, which has constructed the hostel, has not provide the hostel with the necessary beds, chairs and tables.

The girls use the hostel’s hall as a bedroom due to lack of space. According to college administration sources, the problem persists due to non-availability of funds and basic facilities.

“Before Jharkhand was created, the Bihar government looked after the hostel. During that time, the funds were irregular but still they used to come. But now the welfare department has turned a blind eye towards the problem,” said Chouthi Oraon, hostel superintendent.

“The students are living under tough conditions. The bedrooms are small. We have no other option but to allot two students for each bed,” the superintendent said.

“We have requested the welfare department but nothing has been done till now. Nobody is bothered about the condition of the students,” she said.

The hostel has a long list of woes. There are eight bathrooms, four on the ground floor and the rest on the top floor. The corporation supplies the water for six hours daily. But the water supply does not reach the bathrooms of the first floor, as the pump was not working for the past few days.

“We have to do our daily chores within the fixed time and as everyone is in a rush, it is difficult for us to manage at times”, said Sarswati Nag, a student.

“The hostel does not have a visitor’s room. We face problems whenever our relatives drop in to visit us. But we have no other choice,” she said.