Realising fear of discovery of their 'parasite' friends behind students' refusal to vacate rooms for fumigation, UoP now focuses on smoking out illegal residents
Realising fear of discovery of their 'parasite' friends behind students' refusal to vacate rooms for fumigation, UoP now focuses on smoking out illegal residentsFED up of the hooliganism of 'outsiders' illegally occupying the hostels at University of Pune (UoP), the varsity has finally decided to throw them out. Though the problem existed for a long time at the UoP hostels, things came to a pretty pass when the illegal occupants started hindering the regular work of the UoP employees. Recently, the UoP announced that they would undertake pest control measures at the hostels and that the rooms should be unoccupied for at least 15 days. The students objected to this idea, mainly because they themselves allow these outsiders to stay in their rooms in exchange for money or other reasons, and if the employees enter the hostels, then the overcrowdingu00a0-- an open secretu00a0-- would be officially discovered. Also the outsiders who come from far off cities or states would have no place to go.
Weed them out: Known as parasites in student parlance, illegal hostel
occupants will no longer be tolerated, say UoP officials. File pic"In UoP student parlance, these outsiders are called parasites. Students who allow them to stay in the rooms are called hosts. The varsity allows only two to three students in each room, but the quarters are often inhabited by at least five to six. This causes overcrowding and a scramble for access to toilets and water coolers. These parasites and their hosts don't allow the UoP to undertake pest control measures as they don't want to vacate the rooms," said a student. Another student said that the real reason for not vacating the rooms was the fear of being refused entry. "Maybe the parasites are scared they will be denied re-entry once they are detected and that's why they are creating a fuss," he said.
Bhaskar Shejwal, chief vector of UoP hostels, said that strict security measures would be employed to evacuate the 'parasites'. "Illegal occupancy is an old issue but has assumed more importance after a few recent events. We had a meeting last week and have come up with a lot of measures to tighten security. Installing CCTV cameras at the entry and exit gates, deploying round-the-clock guards, with more watchmen at night, conducting surprise and random checks on rooms and enforcing photo identification of inmates strictly are some of the measures being discussed," said Shejwal.
He said the UoP was shut until July 1, following which majority of the students would return to the hostels. "In the past we have been successful in eliminating the problem of illegal occupants from the girls hostels by tightening the security, and we are confident of doing the same in the boys hostels as well," said Shejwal.
