Rajshahi city overrun by RU admission seekers

If you are heading to Rajshahi city for the admission tests for the honours programme of Rajshahi University (RU) under 2016-17 session and have no acquaintances there, you are likely to face serious accommodation problem.

Most residential hotels, rest houses and private dormitories in the city have stopped taking reservations two weeks ago.

Around 1.79 lakh admission seekers and their guardians are expected to swarm the city from today as the four-day tests begin tomorrow, said university sources.

The city has at least 50 residential hotels, which cannot accommodate more than 2,000, said Khondoker Hasan, general secretary of Residential Hotel Owners' Association.

“I could not even accommodate some of my old customers,” said Hasan, also a hotel owner. He said his hotel rooms were booked within the first week of announcement for the tests early this month.

Different government and non-government offices have 20 guest houses with a capacity for around 150 people, which are already reserved by former and existing government officials, said Faisal Haque, an assistant commissioner of the district administration.

Students of about 1,600 private dormitories, with capacity for housing 50,000, usually share seats with close ones during the tests, said Rajshahi City Corporation acting Mayor Nijamul Azim. “Many residents also accommodate guests. I have arranged housing for eight persons at my home.”

Zinat Parvin, a student of RU, who lived in the city's Vinodpur area, said, “Three of us share a room, still we have taken in four admission seekers.”

“I feel bad for those who are accommodating me, but I have no other option,” said Joya Akther, an admission seeker from Thakurgaon, living as a guest at a mess near the university.

Seeking anonymity, a city corporation official said before they had directed the mosque and madrasas to accommodate the students during the exams. Since there was no elected mayor at present, no one is working towards any solution, he claimed.

RU Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan said some admission seekers would stay at the university's residential halls. “…but hall students must remain responsible for their guests,” he said, adding, the university has 17 halls, six for female students, with a capacity of 8,000 students.

In previous years, many admission seekers had to spend nights under the open sky, at bus terminals or railway station, said Jamat Khan, general secretary of Rajshahi Rakkha Sangram Parishad.

He said some of the hotel owners have increased the rents; those usually available at Tk 250 are Tk 1,000 and Tk 500 ones have gone up to Tk 1,500. “Even with the hike, there's no room,” he added. 

“We had appealed to the authorities concerned to close the schools and colleges during the tests so admission seekers can live there, but to no avail,” he said.

He said an inhumane situation is created every year when students come to the city for the exams, and female students and guardians are the worst sufferers. The parishad urged the authorities concerned to stay sympathetic to the guests, he said.

[A RU correspondent contributed to the report]