Students of the National Institute of Design Andhra Pradesh (NID AP) are vehemently demanding better living conditions in their new building at Sakhamuru village of Thullur mandal in the Guntur district.
A total of 191 students, comprising three batches of the institute, were functioning from a transit campus on the premises of Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU) until recently. They were shifted to their permanent campus in the Amaravati region on March 19.
‘Barely liveable’
The students say that they were not aware of the multiple challenges awaiting them at the new campus, a major part of which is still under construction. “The existing conditions are barely liveable. Workers go about their construction work in almost every block of the institute. The food quality is poor, drinking water is unhygienic and the washrooms do not have adequate water supply,” says a girl student seeking anonymity under fear of being ‘targeted’.
“There are no proper medical facilities or an emergency vehicle to be used should a student fall sick. There is no hospital within a 20 km radius from here,” says another student. None of the inmates are ready to be identified, as they do not want to be harassed later.
Safety issues
Girl students also complain of security issues at the unfinished campus as workers move around freely across the building blocks. “Nobody from the administration, faculty or management live on the campus here. We have been left alone under a few caretakers. In the girls’ hostel, workers engaged in construction work, have been passing lewd remarks in an intoxicated condition,” said another girl student
Food poisoning
“The food served in the mess has been causing health issues,” say students, recalling that recently 30 students had to be rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Mangalagiri, located at a distance of 27.7 km from the new campus, due to food poisoning.
The students allege that the administration is indifferent to their problems and their repeated pleas have been unheeded. Thus, they resorted to a protest on April 1; the next day, the Chief Administrative Officer and other team members refused their long-pending demands.
Meanwhile, the aggrieved students are trying to seek the intervention of the higher authorities at the national level. Members of the A.P. State Committee of the Student Federation of India (SFI) expressed solidarity with the students of NID-AP on Wednesday and demanded immediate steps to address their predicament.
