When every street in the
city is illuminated to celebrate Navratri, more than 2,000 students of CEPT
University and Gujarat University hostels are struggling in the dark with no
electricity for the past five days. Their repeated requests to the hostel
officials has got them a generator set, but it is of little help as it supplies
electricity for only a few hours.
With little option, these
students have to either make alternative arrangement or stay back at their
college even at night as they cannot study or get proper sleep in their hostel
blocks.
“For the past six days, we
are getting electricity supply for only seven hours. The generators provide
electricity from 10 in the night to 5 in the morning. There is no sign of electricity
for rest of the day,“ said Jai Shah, a student staying in I Block of CEPT
hostel. “For the past five days, we have been keeping our essential belongings
in college lockers and directly go there to rest,“ said a second year student
of engineering.
Incidentally, this is not
the first time that the students have had to face this problem in the hostels.
A week ago, they faced load shedding for two or three days. However, the issue
was sorted out.
“When the whole world is
looking at Ahmedabad's prosperity, students of CEPT and Gujarat University
where people from across the country come to study, are left in the dark. What
would they think about the city? Is this how we will present the city to other
states?“ said another boarder.
NO WATER, INTERNET
The absence of electricity
means that there is shortage of drinking water and internet connectivity is
severed. The latter is so vital for the students to complete their assignments.
Some students who are
preparing for their architecture examinations have to rely on electricity at
the college. “Students have to carry their books and study materials to college
to prepare for examination. Even if they want to come to the hostel to rest,
they can't because of load shedding,“ added a student.
To explain the situation,
students have craved a caption highlighting the situation: “CEPT can plan for
the world, but it can't plan for itself.“
When contacted, CN Ray,
rector of CEPT boys' hostel said that it would take two to three days more to
solve the issue.“Load shedding is mainly restricted in the eastern part of the
hostels. And now, generator set has been installed to provide relief to
students,“ he added.
Due to power crisis, the
students do not get fresh drinking water. As a result, students are forced to travel
to college with bottles to fetch water.
“After paying so much
money, we don't get drinking water in hostels. Sometimes, the water emits bad
odour, so we avoid drinking it,“ said a student of Block H.
Most of the communication
among students on their studios, lessons and assignments take place through
internet, but the load shedding has affected connectivity. “Hence, for every
assignment we have to rush to the college. It has become a nightmare for us,“
said another student.
OLD CABLES TO BLAME
According to sources at GU,
because of the faulty cables, they have failed to provide electricity to the
hostels. “These cables are very old and need to be replaced. These hostels get
threephase power supply. The issue began with the first phase. We were able to
manage it, but problem cropped up in the second phase, too. This aggravated the
situation,“ said a university official.
So much construction has
happened over the years in the areas through which these cables pass that
engineers will have a tough time locating the old cables and laying new ones,
an official in the electricity department added.
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