Bandipora, Oct 23: The students of degree college Bandipora are up in arms against the government for its failure to construct a proper approach road leading to the institution and a fence to check the movement of outsiders.
 “The students, especially girls are facing tremendous hardships while walking on the road which is in complete dilapidated condition,” a group of students told Greater Kashmir adding that during summers, many of their colleagues suffer from infectious diseases due to rising of dust from the road.
 They said some of the students prefer to walk through orchards to avoid the pathetic road.
 “The campus hasn’t been fenced due to which scores of people including youth move freely inside the college,” second year girl student said. She said the girl students were feeling insecure in the college due to presence of outsiders.
 According to the students, the college also lacks lavatories and drinking water facility for the students.
 The college, the students said, also lacked teaching staff, which was adversely affecting their studies. “The institution has more than 1,500 students studying in eight undergraduate programmes, but has just 11 permanent faculty members. There is shortage of staff in courses including History, Sociology, Kashmiri and Economics,” sources said, adding that the authorities had engaged some lecturers under academic arrangements, but they were still insufficient.
 “We need at least 30 faculty members to run the college effectively,” college officials said.
 When contacted, District Development Commissioner Bandipora, Manzoor Ahmed Lone assured redressal of students’ grievances. He said, “Besides fencing of the college, the approach road will be repaired very soon”. He said the drinking water facility would be also provided by the PHE department for which the scheme had already been approved.
 He assured that the lavatories would be also constructed at an earliest.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 IST