Osmania University principals demand authority

 

Principals of the eight colleges on the OU campus are responsible for allotment of rooms to students studying in their college. Maintenance of the hostel and mess operations are taken care of by contract workers who come under the jurisdiction of the chief warden and not the principal. 

 

The contract workers in hostels and the attached messes include caretakers, wardens, cooks, headwaiters and others responsible for maintaining cleanliness and sanitation. In most of the hostels, the issue is not just bad management,  but also mismanagement. 

 

A principal said, “The contract workers are not doing their job properly because of which the situation in hostels is deteriorating.  The chief warden, who heads the large workforce of contract workers, is powerless most of the time. The caretakers are regularly threatened by students living illegally in hostels. Students come to us demanding action but we are helpless as our roles are limited. If we are given full charge, we can take some strict measures.”  A senior professor from the university said, “A lot of valuable time of the principals is being lost in settling hostel issues. The university should either take off the responsibility of hostels or give them the charge.”