ITO Hostel fire spurs SPA students into action

At the SPA campus. Express

“The ITO hostel = slum = zoo”. This is one of many posters that have come up at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) after a fire broke out at the institute’s girls’ hostel on Thursday. The fire, in which three students lost their belongings as their room was gutted, has prompted SPA’s 1,200 students to fight for basic rights such as hygiene, infrastructure and “safety”. Students said they will not call off the protest till the administration meets their demands.

Since the fire, the women have spent the night at the institute’s studio. On Friday, they demanded that they be relocated to a safer place. The administration is yet to provide an alternative. Occupied by 200 women students, the four-storey hostel at ITO is plagued by a foul smell as trash is not cleaned. Students claimed that the hostel at Maharani Bagh is in worse shape.

Speaking to students on Thursday, Dean, Project and Campus Development, V K Paul, admitted that the complex was not structurally safe. The Ministry of Human Resource and Development, which governs the institute, also held a meeting with the college administration on Friday.

“From dirty drinking water to poor quality food — we have tolerated it all. Now, it is an issue of safety. It is not that the institute does not have money but there is lot of corruption,” a fifth-year student of architecture alleged.