Nagaland college students'' union warns govt of stir over delay in girls'' hostel project

According to the All Nagaland College Students Union ANCSU, the proposal for the girls hostel was submitted by the Investment and Development Authority of Nagaland IDAN to REC Limited for CSR funding in October 2022 with an estimated cost of Rs 3.53 crore.

The All Nagaland College Students' Union on Friday warned the state government that they would launch an agitation if the delay in the construction of the proposed girls' hostel at Kohima Science College was not addressed within a week. The union's president, Kivika Yeptho, alleged the government's failure to utilise the Rs 3.53 crore provided by the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) Limited under its corporate social responsibility scheme has put the project at a crucial juncture. The company is now reportedly seeking a refund of the sanctioned amount, Yeptho claimed. ''The students' community will not stay silent if the government and the department concerned fail to use this CSR-sanctioned amount,'' Yeptho said, adding the union would start an agitation if no action is taken within a week. According to the All Nagaland College Students' Union (ANCSU), the proposal for the girls' hostel was submitted by the Investment and Development Authority of Nagaland (IDAN) to REC Limited for CSR funding in October 2022 with an estimated cost of Rs 3.53 crore. The project was approved in March 2023, and the first instalment of Rs 1.5 crore was released in April that year, it said. However, the project failed to take off after the IDAN reportedly decided to upscale the hostel into an ''international standard facility'', leading to a revised detailed project report of Rs 6 crore, the union said. Yeptho alleged that three years have passed since the release of the first instalment, but the amount remains unutilised, while REC has now initiated steps for a refund due to the expiry of the project timeline. ANCSU also questioned the lack of transparency in the proposed ''international standard hostel'', stating that no blueprint or detailed facilities plan had been shared with the student body despite repeated queries. Maintaining that the original CSR sanction was specifically meant for the construction of the girls' hostel, the union said the state government and the department concerned failed to act despite repeated representations, reminders and appeals. The ANCSU president said female students constitute the majority at Kohima Science College and currently depend on a single 100-bedded hostel that has been accommodating students for many years. He further said the union had recently appealed to the Chief Secretary to intervene and persuade REC to extend the project timeline on May 1, but was informed that the government was ''not in a position to convince'' the company for further extension. Terming the delay a failure on the part of the state government, ANCSU demanded immediate commencement of the project to safeguard the sanctioned amount and address the accommodation challenges faced by women students of the college.