New engg college lacks basic amenities, says JNUSU

New Delhi: Hundreds of engineering students at Jawaharlal Nehru Univesity (JNU) have been facing several hardships since they took admission this year, as many claim that the newly-opened engineering college lacks basic amenities.

In a statement, the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) said that a whole semester is coming to an end, yet the engineering students are facing many problems, as they don't have school building, lab facilities, hostel and other necessary facilities.

The Union also said that students have been paying from their pockets from last two months for food at the Damodar Mess, despite having paid Rs 10,000 as mess advance. They have also paid Rs 5,000 as security deposit, Rs 5,000 as establishment charges and Rs 6,000 as license fee/electricity/water/service charge, taking the total to Rs 26,000 per semester – excluding the tuition fee which they paid separately, JNUSU said.

"Now, in a turn of events, the JNU administration is telling the mess advance taken is a security amount to be returned after five years. However, students have already paid Rs 5,000 as security deposit. The administration is defying all logic," JNUSU said in a statement.

Further, in a letter to the Vice-Chancellor, the Union categorically wrote how the staff of Damodar mess expressed their inability to aid the students as they themselves were not in possession of the money which the students paid.

It added that the staff's correspondence to the administration regarding the problems has not been responded till date. "Students are only suffering because of failure of the JNU administration to provide all facilities promised and its lack of transparency and accountability," JNUSU added.

Meanwhile, students have launched a collective signature campaign to raise awareness about the issue