SSLNT College, the only women's constituent college of Dhanbad district under Vinoba Bhave University, would soon have a new 160-bed hostel, its fourth and largest, on campus.
The new four-storey hostel will be developed at a cost of Rs 2 crore by Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL), the Dhanbad based subsidiary of Coal India.
The building, to come up near the college grounds, would primarily accommodate Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students.
The college, with 5,000 students, already has three hostels with a collective strength of 200 beds, but often faces difficulty in accommodating the large number of girls applying for hostel seats.
Giving details, SSLNT College principal S.K.L. Das said the new hostel, developed by the BCCL under its corporate social responsibility programme, would help students from far-flung areas of Dhanbad such as Tundi, Nirsa, Rajganj, Baliapur, as well as from adjoining districts such as Bokaro, Giridih etc, who are often compelled to stay in private hostels.
The design for the four-storey hostel, that would also house the hostel superintendent and matron's chamber on the ground floor, had been approved by Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI), the technical wing of Coal India.
"A team from BCCL, led by GM (personnel & welfare) Solomon Cudadah, had visited our college 20 days ago and inspected the proposed site along with some officials of CMPDI, and approved the building design," said principal Das.
"BCCL is already constructing 12 toilets at the institute at a cost of Rs 25 lakh under their CSR programme," the principal added.
In an attempt to streamlining the academic ambience of the institute and prevent trespassers from entering the campus, principal Das said they were planning to introduce a dress code for students from the next academic session beginning July.
Blue salwar and dupatta with multicoloured checked kurtis will be the uniform.
Students have been demanding dress code in their college, alleging that outsiders often enter the campus and steal their belongings.
Started in 1955 by social workers Hirendra Nath Chatterjee and Mrigank Shekhar Mukherjee, the single room college, situated at Luby Circular Road, is now spread over an area of 3.24 acres with a two-storey administrative building, a four-storey academic complex, besides girls' hostels.
Way back in 2007, the college had received Rs 25 lakh from the University Grants Commission (UGC) to develop a 100-bed hostel but due to escalation of project cost the fund could not be utilised.
"We have recently written to the UGC for guidelines with regard to the unused fund and are awaiting their response," said principal Das.
