4 days ago
- General
- New Indian Express
MKU students complain of water shortage, dirty toilets
MADURAI: Students and staff members of Madurai Kamaraj University complain there are not enough toilets, and drinking water facilities in the sprawling campus. More than 2,500 students, including research scholars, and 500 faculty and non-teaching staff visit the campus daily.
In addition, the Directorate of Distance Education centre is functioning on the campus and at least 100 students visit the campus for several reasons including admission, obtaining certificates. More than 100 teaching and non-teaching staff work in DDE.
According to the DDE students, toilets lack hygiene. On Tuesday, TNIE visited the campus and found that many departments did not have adequate drinking water facilities and many toilets were kept closed allegedly due to water shortage.
R Varsha (name changed), a student from the English department, said though toilets are available on the first floor, they remain closed most of the time due to lack of water supply. Toilets in the ground floor have to be used by all students in the entire block, and it is not cleaned regularly. 'I stopped drinking water during class hours in order to avoid using the toilets. There are several students who are like me and suffer urinary tract infections and other health issues,' she said.
Requesting anonymity, a teaching staff from the varsity, said toilets meant for them are poorly maintained, dirty, and lack water. 'Lack of facilities can pose severe hardship to girl students during menstruation. Students may avoid drinking water or eating during class hours to avoid using the unhygienic toilets. This may lead to dehydration and impacting their ability to focus on studies. The locks are broken on several toilet doors. Such issues are not fixed regularly by the authorities,' said a staff.
The faculty further pointed out that just one drinking water dispenser is available in the Tamil department, that too donated by a staff. 'There are no drinking water facilities in departments of English, Economics, philosophy, linguistics, history. The toilets in these sections are not hygienic. Even the TPM Library does not have water facility,' he said.
Registrar (in charge) M Ramakrishnan was unavailable for comment. The MKU Estate officer Anand admitted there were not enough water dispensers and that toilets were not clean.
'We have sent proposal to the government for each and every department to carry out repair works and install RO water plants. We will rectify the lapse once we receive funds,' he said.
