The administration at Bangalore University asked its students staying in two women’s hostels to vacate. There are about 550 students currently staying in the hostels - one for Northeast students and one SC/ST students.
TV9 reported that this sudden announcement to move the hostel dwellers from their accommodations comes as the government has asked Bangalore University to convert its hostels into a COVID Care Centre(CCC). These COVID Care Centres will be used to house those who test positive for the novel coronavirus but are asymptomatic.
The move has left the students angry about the sudden development forcing them to pack up and leave without prior arrangements made for their stay or transportation.
Though the number of students currently staying in the women’s hostels is less, many have left behind their belongings in their rooms and have returned to their hometowns, TV9’s report said.
The students who are currently still staying in the hostels may not have a place to go, or have come from far flung places and are left in the lurch.
Students alleged that they were threatened by the police with cases if they refused to leave. They also said that the locks of the doors were broken.
Kataria, an official with the Bruhut Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said that they had requested the students to vacate the hostels, with one already having been converted into a CCC.
The official also claimed that there was no one in the girls hostel. “It was locked, and there are about 200 rooms in the hostel. Each room has two beds, and we have to only add two additional beds into each room, as the rooms are quite spacious.”
Students, who had been forced to vacate the hostel, however said that there is no transportation arranged for them to return to their native places, with neither the BBMP nor the Bangalore University Registrar helping.