Water supply cut for 5 days at BJ Medical College hostel, Medicos threaten strike
Ahmedabad: The distressed doctors and medicos residing at the PG hostel of BJ Medical College are facing tremendous problems as they have no water supply for the last five consecutive days.
The agitated hostellers stated that due to the unavailability of water they have to leave for work without even taking a bath which is extremely necessary during the pandemic. Moreover, even after constantly working for long shifts, the scarcity of water has added to their perils as they are unable to take care of their personal hygiene.
The medicos further added that despite requesting PIU officials a couple of times, no steps have yet been taken for their redressal.
The college authorities, on the other hand, alleged that the PG doctors and medicos visited the PIU office and ransacked the office by breaking the lights and furniture demanding immediate water supply. The doctors and medicos have also threatened to go on strike if the water supply is not made available immediately.
The PG hostel of the Ahmedabad civil hospital campus did not have any water supply for five straight days. The doctors, nurses, and undergraduate medicos residing in the five-storied building are all compelled to go to their work without taking care of the hygiene as there is no water available. Almost 2,000 occupants in the hostel including undergraduate medical students are facing tremendous problems due to the unavailability of water supply.
As per a recent media report, the disrupted water supply has become a constant problem for the medicos and the doctors for the last ten days. They have approached the civil hospital administration with their complaint and even informed the project implementation unit also. However, their water issue did not resolve.
On the very first day, the residents faced scarcity of water but they were not much affected by it as they had stocked up 20-litre water bottles from private agencies for their drinking purpose. The problem escalated on the next day as they did not have enough water supply to take a bath. The situation worsened on the third consecutive day and the hostellers had to approach the municipal corporations to borrow a tank for water supply. They again requested the authorities to note their complaint.
An angry hosteller told Mirror, "Every other day the motor conks off and they start repairing it. This happens quite frequently and we keep going to the PIU office, pleading with them to do something. Why can't they fix the problem for good?" Another irked student stated, "We keep complaining about either electricity or drainage or water issues. How many times should we complain? Why is there no permanent solution to the problems? How will we go about our daily chores without water? We work for long hours and cannot even bathe. There was some intervention from top officials only because we threatened to go on a strike."
According to the college authorities, on the fourth day when the water problem still remained unsolved, the agitated PG doctors, nurses of the hostel could not keep calm and when two engineers visited their hostel on Thursday morning, a heated conversation took place between both the parties.
BJ Medical College sources told Mirror that the students locked up the two engineers in a vacant room from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and only opened the door to serve them lunch. Even after that, the furious students visited the PIU office to pressurize the officials to take action. They allegedly locked the officials and ransacked the furniture and the lights. Finally, when the PG students threatened to go on a strike, the top PIU officials from Gandhinagar visited the hostel on Thursday evening.
BJ Dean Dr. Pranay Shah told Mirror, "Yes, the officials of PIU and the PG doctors did have heated arguments over the issue. On Thursday, senior PIU officials visited the hostel and assured them that the water problem will be solved soon."
PIU chief engineer Mr. Patel who visited the hostel in order to communicate with the distressed medicos and doctors and explained to the hostellers that as authorities have to maintain and follow a government procedure, it is taking a bit of time. He gave his assurance to the students that they would gain all the necessary approval to fix the problem as soon as possible.
He further informed that as long as no permanent solution is made for the problem PIU would arrange water tanks and send them to the hostel for the use of the hostellers. Patel told Mirror, "It is a technical issue and the delay is because of the processes to be followed. But we have started work. Some repair work is pending but the problem should be solved in a day or two."
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