Days after a Newsline report highlighted unauthorised occupancy in the boys hostel of the University of Pune,officials have decided to tighten security on hostel premises. In a recent meeting,it was decided hostels will be under constant surveillance to get rid of illegal occupants,as done for the girls hostel.
At present,there are 1,067 boys and 1,100 girls at the 16 university hostels. There are separate hostels for research students,with a capacity of 240 students. However,over the years,the hostels have seen many students who chose to stay back even after they finish their courses.
University Chief Hostel Rector B R Shejwal said,Since the problem of illegal occupants has been a matter of concern for quite sometime,we held a meeting last week to discuss it. There are already enough security guards on campus,our own guards and the ones we have hired on contract.
There are guard posts in front of every hostel. However,there was a problem in shifts. We would not have guards round the clock. Now we have decided to have guards 24/7. The problem of illegal occupancy in the girls hostel has been minimised after tightening security and we hope to get the same results at the boys hostels, added Shejwal.