QAU hostelites’ woes: where water comes for 4.5 hours a day

Power outages are the norm, with the hostels having no generators or UPS.

ISLAMABAD: Prolonged power outages and water shortages are taking a toll on the studies of students in Quaid-i-Azam University hostels.

Some students, asking not to be named, said they are finding it “very difficult” to live in the hostel in summers due to the absence of basic necessities of life.

“This is the peak time to study as we are preparing for our final exams, but the lack of facilities and the disruption of routine life are affecting our studies,” said one student.

Water is available only at certain hours during the day, from 7am to 8:30am, 12pm to 1:30pm and 6pm to 7:30pm. Therefore students find it difficult to shower, wash dishes or do laundry. Sometimes there isn’t even water to drink, said one student.

“We study till late at night due to which we are unable to get up early in the morning. Later, during the afternoon and evening we are at our respective departments and unable to do our chores or store water,” explained another student.

A female student said they have to fetch water from a water tank located at some distance from the hostel building. But after dark, it is not possible to go and get water from there.

Girls, residing on upper floors in the hostels, find it difficult to lug buckets of water to their rooms, said another student. There are three girls’ hostels and each hostel houses some 400 girls.

Students said the hostels have not been provided generators or UPS as an alternative for the prolonged power outage which sometimes extends to five to six hours at a stretch, especially during the night.

“Due to loadshedding, we are unable to recharge our emergency lights and the only option we are left with is to study under the candlelight,” said one of the students.

QAU Vice Chancellor Dr Masoom Yasinzai said every year from April to July not just the hostelites, who number over 2000, but university employees residing in the colony also face water shortage issues.

He said the university’s daily water requirement is 1,000 gallons but it is unable to get even half of it. Presently, the university is supplied water from Shahdara. “The belt on which the university has been established does not have underground water.”

The university administration has requested the Capital Development Authority to provide a water supply line from Simly Dam to offset the water shortage.

Dr Yasinzai also admitted that they have been unable to provide generators to all 11 hostels due to lack of funds. To overcome the problem, the university has taken a power transmission line from the diplomatic enclave to cut down on power outages.

“We try to facilitate our students as much as possible. During the rest of the year, students do not face such problems,” he said. “Therefore, they should cooperate with the university administration during these months.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2012.