Inmates at private girls hostels in Chennai left in the lurch during shutdown

TNN | Mar 26, 2020, 07.41 AM IST

CHENNAI: At a time when the entire city is under lockdown, a few private hostels operating exclusively for women students are struggling to keep up and cutting down on facilities. This, in turn, has affected students, especially those who are from other states and are unable to return home.

Deepa*, an outstation student pursuing a professional course in the city, got stuck in the city, due to the lockdown. "I was doing my internship and the boss granted us leave only two days ago, the next thing I know that all the state borders are closed," she said. Deepa along with 20 other outstation students was residing at a paying guest accommodation and hostel at T Nagar, while most returned home, starting early last week, four were left behind. While the hostel allowed them to stay back, they weren't able to give them proper food.

"For the last two days, we were getting stale food, what was prepared during breakfast was given to us for dinner. When we questioned, they told us that they had limited stock and that we should find other places to stay," she said. While Deepa, went to a distant relative's home, her hostel mates are struggling to find a place to stay for the next 21 days.

However, Annapoorani, owner of the hostel said that all students had vacated last week itself. "They had all gone home on their own, nobody is left now. We don't know when we can re-admit them," said.

A few outstation students residing at the Swagatham ladies hostel had similar complaints. Though the hostel has let the women, from other states, stay back during this time, they said that they too have been receiving a lesser quantity of food. "There are 11 of us staying here and thought there is an in-house chef at the hostel, we can see that the quantity of food has reduced compared to before," said one of the residents of the hostel. "We have not drastically reduced the quantity, but have to control given the uncertainty. We do not want our girls to be hungry and hence have to take these small measures. But we have enough stock," said Lata, the hostel warden. "We all want this lockdown to end soon. We are away from home and we are worried," the student said.