The students residing in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) girls’ hostel staged a protest outside the residence of IIT Kanpur's Director, Abhay Karandikar, against the construction of a new block extending to the Girls Hostel-I (GH-I).
On the night of April 1, Saturday, after trying multiple times to discuss their concerns with the authorities, the students began a sit-in protest at the director’s residence demanding that the construction be halted immediately. One of the major concerns that the students put out was the demolition of sports facilities like basketball and badminton courts. The students also said that there is already a lack of sports facilities and outdoor areas for the girl students on campus.
Protesting students speak up
“Boys hostels have several spaces for sports and basketball courts but we barely have any outdoor space. The Ph.D. students living in GH-1 were utilising these courts as we also need and prefer physical activity at the end of the day. This decision by the authorities shows gender discrimination on the campus,” a student from IIT Kanpur said.
Another issue highlighted by the students is that the concerned girls’ hostel is already space-constricted and lacks many facilities. The students say that instead of a new block, the authorities should focus on the existing issues at the hostels.
While the administration plans to add 200 more students to the new block, the GH-I doesn’t even have sufficient mess capacity for the existing 340 students, the students complained. The hostels are also ridden with other issues like lack of ventilation or outdoor spaces, water seepage, poor drinking water supply, and so on.
The construction started on Sunday, March 26 and the residents claim that they were neither informed nor consulted beforehand. Since the new block is being constructed merely four metres from the existing girls’ hostel, the students are also worried about noise pollution and the well-being of students that might affect the academic environment of the hostel and might also aggravate a few health conditions students have.
“There is a list of problems when it comes to the quality of hostels and facilities. But instead of solving these problems, they are planning to add more students and a new block to the hostel. Why are the students being asked to ‘adjust’ to these poor conditions?” the student added.
Protests halted for now
After the residents raised questions, the hall president emailed the General Body Meeting (GBM) stating that the construction is for building a residential block to accommodate the increasing student strength. The protests halted after the director agreed to speak to the students and the construction work has been halted temporarily until a final decision is made.
Authorities from IIT Kanpur were unavailable for a comment on the situation at the moment.
