Keonjhar: Facing acute water shortage continuously, residents of the Ananya Ladies’ Hostel under Dharanidhar University (DDU) here organised a sit-in protest in front of the gate. They demonstrated against the varsity administration for its failure to provide water by holding empty buckets and bottles. The students said that despite lodging complaints about the crisis, no remedial measures have been taken by the university authorities. “There has been an acute shortage of water (both drinking and other purposes) for a long time in the hostel. Despite repeated complaints, nothing has been done. Till the issue is resolved, we will continue our protests,” said a protesting inmate.
Officer on Special Duty (OSD)- cum-Vice-Chancellor of DDU, Pratap Kumar Mohanty along with Registrar Narendra Kumar Sahu and other officials visited the hostel in an attempt to pacify the boarders. The inmates, however, were adamant. They pointed out that they have to walk more than a kilometre to get drinking water. The students, however, called off the strike when the OSD assured them that the water crisis would be resolved on a war footing. He also promised that till the crisis is solved, water will be supplied to the hostel through tankers. To ease the problems of the inmates, Mohanty immediately contacted a drinking water supply company and asked it to send a tanker. Sahu meanwhile blamed the district administration for the shortage in water supply
