Coronavirus in Pune: Symbiosis University tells students to vacate hostels

Mehab Qureshi

Pune, June 15, 2020: The hostels of Symbiosis International University (SIU), Viman Nagar campus, maybe requisitioned for quarantine facility for Covid-19 patients, suspected people as the cases rise in Pune. The SIU management has asked the students to vacate the hostels by taking away their belongings as the centre may be used for quarantine facilities. The circular, its text is given below, has created chaos among the SIU students, as most of the students are from different states.

“Dear Student/Parents,

1. We hope you all are safe and sound in this Covid-19 scenario. We are sure that spending important years of your life in the Institutes of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) must have been a wonderful experience that shaped your career and changed your life. The years spent on the University Campus are usually the most precious treasures and memorable part of our life.

2. We all are passing through unprecedented difficult times in combating COVID-19 pandemic. Symbiosis had recognised the gravity of this pandemic and has taken early administrative steps in the interest of the safety of students and closed campuses well before the road/rail/air travel was halted to the ground. Because of early closure of Institutes except few, almost all our students could reach their homes safely. This has relieved parents / local guardians and the University from worries and anxiety.

3. During this movement from the university campuses, many of you have left your belongings in your hostel rooms, which was but natural because no one was aware that the pandemic will prevail for such a long time. Now we realise that it will linger on for some more time. 

4. We appreciate the fact that the majority of you had to leave in a hurry without properly packing your luggage and locking up the wardrobes. Notwithstanding this fact, the accommodation which is still under your  occupancy is needed for the undermentioned reasons: 

(a) Unless the rooms are vacated new students cannot be accommodated on the campus.  

(b) Repairs and maintenance of the rooms need to be carried out so that it is in a proper condition for allotment to the incoming students. This repairs and maintenance activity will require at least one month after the rooms are vacated and handed over to the administration. 

(c) Govt./Local authorities have sounded us, that the hostel accommodation may be requisitioned for quarantine activities of Covid-19.”

The notice gave students three options:

(a) Personally, collect luggage and handover the accommodation to the Campus Administrator. 

(b) Nominate a suitable person to receive their belongings and hand over the accommodation to the Campus Administrator. This nominated person can then dispatch belongings to the student through Movers and Packers or by courier service.

(c)  If for any reason, the student can’t vacate the hostel by adopting any one of the suggested options, he/she will have to authorize SIU to open the rooms and lockers/ cupboards and pack students’ belongings, which will be kept in the luggage room. The packing charges involved will have to be borne by the students. “However, this is with a risk as the room is occupied by 2 or 3 students, and it will be challenging to identify the luggage of individual students. We will require consent from you to carry out this activity. You or your nominee will, however, have to come to collect this packed luggage from the luggage room by 10th July 2020″, the circular states.

However, this notice has caused panic amongst the students. On the condition of anonymity, a student said, “I thought we were packing things and not unpacking them, there are too many things needed, like a few cartons to fit in all my stuff and my luggage bag to get in all my clothes, to get things in would be a big problem, we might need to use our hands to push things in, and tape it up and write our name on each carton and take the luggage out get it into the lift then again taking it to the reception is a big task, also giving it the right person who will take it and put it somewhere safe. Lots of hard work will go into this.

“I was initially shocked when I heard people received a mail regarding vacating their hostel rooms. It is relatively easy for people who live in and around the city to get their things back, but for the people who live in a different state altogether, going back in the middle of a pandemic to only take their belongings doesn’t fit quite right with me”, said another student who also did not wish to be named.

“I haven’t received any mail of such sort, but there are rumours that people who were supposed to vacate the hostel and whose names were on the waiting list have received an email. The college has not made any clarifications regarding what criteria the mails are being sent. The students are panicking on college WhatsApp groups because it will be a considerable task to pack our belongings if we all receive a mail”, said another student.

The circular sent to students reads, “A mail in this regard on the options mentioned above should be sent by you to the Director of your institute by 1st July 2020. If no communication is received from you by 1st July 2020 on any of the points mentioned above, please note that SIU will have the right to open the rooms after 10th July 2020 and dispose of your belongings.”

“Hope you will understand the constraints under which we are functioning and bear with us in the larger interest of the organisation”, the SIU circular concluded.

Punekarnews.in has sent email to SIU management for their statement on the issue. This report will be updated after getting the statement.