Students of Dayanand Sagar varsity protest against poor hostel facilities at Harohalli campus

Hundreds of students staying at the S-Residences Hostel of Dayananda Sagar University, Harohalli campus, protested on Tuesday night against the university administration and hostel wardens for failing to provide basic facilities at their hostel.

Speaking to The Hindu, the students said: “We have been raising concerns over inadequate basic amenities and hostel conditions for nearly a month. Recently, we protested on August 26 and were assured that the issues will be resolved in five days.”

Highlighting the issues plaguing the hostel for over a month, students said: “Majority of us here study engineering and medical courses. The issues include non-functional Wi-Fi, lack of hot water for bathing, poor quality of drinking water, irregular cleaning and hygiene issues, mosquito menace, malfunctioning lifts, and empty food vending machines. The issues exist across boys and girls hostels and more than 5,000 students are impacted.”

Another student argued: “We pay ₹2.45 lakh annually towards hostel fees. The drinking water is chlorinated, which causes sore throat. After paying hefty fees, they expect us to purchase drinking water from shops.”

Students said that despite reporting the issue several times to the hostel authorities and university administration, it has not been addressed. They also shared that as per their promise and deadline, the administration should have resolved the issues by August 31.

When The Hindu reached out to varsity Vice-Chancellor B.S. Satyanarayana, he said: “I agree issues were reported by the students regarding electricity, Wi-Fi, and water, which are being resolved. The university has provision for providing clean RO water to the students. There was plumbing issues and they are being resolved now.”