Not enough hostel seats in Guwahati colleges for outstation girl students

GUWAHATI: Besides getting admission in a good college, a major concern for outstation students, especially girls, is finding suitable accommodation. But there aren't enough hostel seats in most city colleges to accommodate all outstation girl students.
Parents usually prefer to have their daughters stay in college hostels rather than private ones or in paying guest (PG) accommodation.Handique is the preferred college for girl students because of its hostel facilities, but it has only 45 seats.
Ritamoni Baishya, warden of Handique Girls' College, said, "Every year, there is heavy rush for the hostel, but all the students can't be accommodated. Since college hostels are safer than PG accommodation and the rent is also very low, most students prefer to stay in college hostels."
Those applying to Handique College will have it easier this year as the institution is opening a new hostel building. However, the new hostel, which will have 12 seats, is still under construction and will be ready only after three or four months.
Manju Bora, who has come all the way from Golaghat to study in Handique College, said, "In the admission form, I have opted for hostel accommodation but I am not sure whether I will get it since the number of seats is limited. If not, I will have to stay at some private hostel."
Cotton College, which has seven hostels for boys, has only three hostels for girls. "There are sufficient hostel seats to accommodate outstation boys but not enough seats for girls. There are a total of 320 seats in the three girls' hostels, but we receive more than 600 applications every year. The hostel seats are allotted completely on merit basis and outstation students are given preference," said convener of the hostel advisory committee, Cotton College, Pradip Sharma.
Udita Goswami, who has come from Nagaon to study in Cotton College, said, "My parents won't allow me to stay in paying guest accommodation since it is not safe. If I do not get a hostel seat then my parents won't allow me to study here."
The college authorities are planning to address this problem to an extent. Cotton College will soon have two more hostel for girls - one on the college premises and the other one in Rupnagar.
Not only are college hostels considered safe, their rents are also very reasonable. The hostel charges at Handique College are around Rs 7,200 per annum. Hostel rent at the premier Cotton College is even lower than Handique, although it is supposed to go up this year. "From this year, the hostel charges will be Rs 3,000. Until last year, it was Rs 2,000," Sharma said.
B Barooah and Guwahati Commerce College (GCC) do not even have girls hostels. "We have one boy's hostel with 60 seats but there is no any hostel for girls. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has given us a grant for construction of hostels but due to lack of suitable space, we returned the funds," said an official of GCC.