Cuttack, Aug. 21: A group of 20 visually-challenged students, who have taken admission in arts subjects at Ravenshaw Junior College here, today staged a demonstration alleging lack of accommodation facilities.

The group of students, which included five girls, submitted a memorandum to college authorities demanding measures to accommodate them in any of the hostels on the campus.

There is a boys’ hostel outside the campus at Mangalabag, but the visually-challenged students find it difficult to travel back and forth everyday.

One of the aggrieved students, Tapas Jena, who hails from Ganjam, said they were unable to attend all the classes everyday because of lack of on-campus accommodation provisions.

“Getting admitted to Ravenshaw was a dream come true for me. But, I have been thoroughly disappointed with the attitude of the authorities. I come from a economically poor background and it is difficult for me to stay in the city without any hostel,” he added.

To add to all this, there is no provision of a separate accommodation for girls of the college.

However, only 20 girls from the junior college can be housed along with plus three students in various hostels of Ravenshaw University every year. However, the problem has assumed serious proportions with more than 80 visually-challenged students, who study in various streams of the university, looking for an accommodation.

“Many of us are yet to get hostel accommodation. As a result, we are forced to stay in a private mess outside the campus, which is not very safe,” said Arati Meher, a student of the junior college who hails from Sonepur.

She has to spend Rs 1,400 every month for a bed in the mess, while another Rs 1,500 is spent every month towards daily meals.

Ravenshaw Junior College authorities admitted that lack of hostel facilities had caused inconvenience to several students. Further, around 100 students have already taken transfer to other colleges this year because of the absence of hostel.

“We have already written to the authorities of the Ravenshaw University to make necessary arrangements to accommodate our students at their hostels. We hope the issue will be resolved shortly,” said college principal Rita Das.