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| An official of Ravenshaw University conducts inspection of rooms in the East Hostel on Tuesday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das |
Cuttack, July 11: Five non-boarders staying in the East Hostel of Ravenshaw University were evicted during a special drive launched yesterday.
Hostel authorities had identified 12 non-boarders, who were staying in the hostel. During the raid, five of them were found on the premises. Moreover, some objectionable goods, including empty beer bottles and cigarette packets, were also recovered from various rooms in the hostel.
Official sources said that while some of the non-boarders had completed their courses, others were yet to take readmission. “The authorities should have taken the step much before,” said Sanjiv Prusty, a student.
Prusty said the drive was launched after the East Hostel boarders had demanded for a detailed checking of all the rooms following an attack by a group of outsiders around 11.30pm on Saturday last. A boarder had sustained minor injuries in the assault. Following the incident, the students had sat on a dharna, demanding immediate arrest of those involved in the attack.
“We are happy that most of the non-boarders have been vacated from the hostel. This will create a favourable environment for the students staying here,” said Rakesh Rout, another student.
A Ravenshaw University official said a monitoring committee had been constituted to sanitise all the boys’ hostel on the campus. At present, there are four hostels for boys — East Hostel, New PG Hostel, New Hostel and Dharmabrata Hostel — on the campus and Jaganath Chatra Awas outside the campus. The total seats in these hostels are over 1,500.
Periodic inspection by the committee would be conducted to ensure that the non-boarders, who are also repeatedly creating problems on the campus, are not allowed to stay in the hostels.
“We had earlier served the non-boarders a notice to vacate the hostel within 24 hours and conducted a physical verification of all the hostel boarders yesterday. Five non-boarders were vacated from East Hostel and many objectionable goods were also recovered from a few rooms,” said hostel warden Nachiketa Das.
Das said it was tough to conduct such drives because of lack of manpower. However, the committee has decided to conduct periodic checks in other hostels regularly to enforce discipline on the campus that has witnessed series of students’ unrest in the past.