Bandipora College lacks basic facilities, 6 classrooms for 2800 students

Excelsior Correspondent

BANDIPORA, Mar 29:  Twelve-years down the line, the messy state of affairs of Government Degree College Bandipora remains a matter of concern for the students.
According to students, the college lacks proper infrastructure and teaching staff thereby taking a heavy toll on their academics.
The college caters around 76 villages of the district, but surprisingly have only six lecture halls forcing students to suffer for want of space.
Established in the year 2007, the college is offering degree courses in B.A, B.sc (medical and non-medical) and currently 2800 students are enrolled in all undergraduate courses.
Mudasir Sultan, a 2nd semester student said that the academic block which is under construction for past six years is still incomplete and has missed several deadlines. “The laboratories are ill-equipped and there is no water facility in the college without which no experiment can be performed. The laboratories lack necessary chemicals for conducting experiments. Government and local administration seems apathetic about the woes and miseries of the students,” he said.
The students also complained about poor sanitation, fencing and lack of reading rooms and playground in the college. “There is no reading room in the college library. The college is without fencing and the students can be seen roaming around and any outsider can trespass the college premises even during the class work,” Firdous Ahmad, another student said.
The students said that there is no facility of canteen in the college premises as well. “The college was constructed on a hilltop without any planning. We don’t even have proper road connectivity for the college. Washrooms are without water facility which makes us suffer a lot. The washrooms are in pathetic condition due to unavailability of water. The Government as well as the local administration has turned a blind eye towards our sufferings,” the students said.
An official of Education Department said that 186 canals of land was allotted for the college but Revenue Department has failed to demarcate the land even after getting the directions from Higher Education Minister and Commissioner Secretary.
He said, the additional block coming at cost of Rs 7.42 crore is under construction and has missed deadlines because the executing agency is working slowly even after getting whole amount thus effecting studies of students.
Chief Minister in her outreach program at Bandipora promised to start BCA, BBA and PG courses in college and directed Higher Education Department to examine the demand but on ground nothing concrete has been done and it remained only to the room.
Deputy Commissioner, Bandipora said that he has asked contractor to pace up the work and this year additional block will be completed.