Students will have to pay for extra power used

Students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) may soon be burning the midnight oil, quite literally, soon.
The University has proposed to install separate electricity meters in each room at the new Koyana hostel, making students to pay for the extra load apart from the sanctioned power.

"Each student residing in a hostel room is allocated about 50 to 60 units of electricity. The students are authorised to use only a fan and a light. But they use various electrical gadgets like iron, water coolers and room heaters running high electricity bills. The cost is ultimately borne by the JNU," said Fateh Singh, joint registrar of JNU's inter-hostel administration.

"Meters will be installed in different phases from this month end."

The students claim that theu00a0 proposal is "impractical". Amit Sharma, a 2nd year BA student of Korean languageu00a0 said, "JNU is a place which accommodates students who are from very poor families. This step could really make a hole in their pocket.

Praveen Kumar of Narmada hostel joined issue with Amit, sayingu00a0 "It is not justified. To stop such usage strict a watch should be kept."