Bhubaneswar, May 24: Hunting for accommodation remains one of the biggest challenges for students who come to the city from other places for admission into various government junior colleges.

Let alone lesser-known colleges, the ones with the highest cut-off marks only have a handful of hostel seats to offer.

The BJB Junior College has 80 seats for boys and 100 seats for girls although it can take in 1,200 students.

Matters are even worse for students at Basic Science And Humanities (Junior) College, Bhubaneswar, which still does not even have a hostel.

With limited or no hostel seats in the major junior colleges, finding a place to stay has become increasingly difficult for students as well as their parents, who are new to the city.

While some parents get their wards to stay with relatives, others get their children into groups of four or five to share accommodation (commonly known as "mess") at a place close to the college.

"I am not sure if my son will get a hostel seat at BJB Junior College. He does not want to stay with relatives, and we are reluctant to put him in a mess. His roommates might influence him in a negative way and he might end up smoking and drinking. There are too many possible hazards," said Paresh Rath, the parent of a student, who has applied for admission to BJB Junior College.

With so many students looking for a place to stay, a number of single accommodation places have come up around these institutions.

"My brother was told that his name was on the waiting list for hostel accommodation and he would be given a seat after the final-year batch graduate and leave the hostel. However, it took close to a year before he got a seat. Till then, he had to stay with a relative," said Keshav Behera, a student.

Students also complained that in the absence of hostel facilities, a lot of time was lost in travelling and cooking.

BJB Junior College principal Gobind Charan Pradhan told The Telegraph: "Students of both junior and degree colleges have to work out something when it comes to accommodation and hostels. Hostel accommodation has always been a problem, but there is little we can do about it."

The problem has led to many parents choosing private colleges, which promise better infrastructure and facilities.

Basic Science College principal Bikash Chandra Panda rued that the state government had time and again promised hostels for the institute, but nothing had materialised yet. The college has as many as 128 seats, all in the science steam.

"Last year, we had sent yet another proposal for a 150-bed hostel and hoped that it would be ready by this academic year. But, that did not happen," said Panda.