Students have to climb 7 floors to write exams

Students of MCom Part I who have been allotted SK Somaiya College of Arts Science and Commerce in Vidyavihar as their centre have a lot to worry about apart from their exam preparations At least 400 students who are appearing for their board exams at the centre this year are suffering owing to the fact that the newly inaugurated Aurobindo building on the fifth sixth and seventh floors of which they are writing their exams has no water supply from the BMC Centre of misery Though students were originally allotted seats in the institutionrsquos old building the centre was shifted to the recently inaugurated Aurobindo building which lacks proper amenities Whatrsquos more students have to climb the stairs all the way up as they have been banned from using the four elevators inside the premises When this correspondent from MiD DAY visited the centre he was forced to climb the stairs to the third floor in order to reach the principalrsquos office Though the students were originally allotted seats in the institutionrsquos old building the centre was shifted to the newly inaugurated Aurobindo building Kamlesh Kapasi parent of an examinee said ldquoMy daughter is appearing for her exams at this centre and I was surprised to see that examinees have to climb the stairs up to the seventh floor When I asked the security guard to allow the students to use the elevator he said that the management has denied permission for the same The building does not have a BMC water connection yet forcing the management to bring in filled bottles of drinking water from the adjacent buildingrdquo School says Dr Sangeeta Kohli principal of the degree college said ldquoThe BMC water supply for this building is still in the pipeline But we have arranged for 20 litre water cans on each floor to provide students with filtered drinking water The water from the borewell connection provides water at the restrooms on all the floorsrdquo Regarding the elevators she said ldquoThe students have been denied access to lifts at all the exam centres around Mumbai For the past 17 years students have been climbing five floors in our old building without any complaints Why should they have any problems nowrdquo BMC says Rajan Prabhu assistant engineer water for the BMC N ward said ldquoThe college management has applied for a new water connection but they are yet to clear arrears due to which there has been a delay in providing the connection I will surely look into the matter and speed up the processrdquo V Ranganathan the institutionrsquos honorary secretary said ldquoAs soon as this issue was brought to my notice I instructed the staff to take necessary steps to assure the welfare and comfort of students appearing for the exams I have granted permission for students writing their exam on the seventh floor to use the lifts and have also appointed two liftmen to oversee the process I have also ordered the supply of two 20litre water bottles on every floor An officer has been deputed to supervise the matter and make sure that all these facilities are being provided There is proper water supply in the toilets on every floor and the BMCrsquos supply will be availed within a few daysrdquo When asked why the old building of S K Somaiya College is not being used as the centre Ranganathan said ldquoThe new building has better facilities compared to the old building So we have shifted the entire degree college department to the new building We inaugurated the building on March 19 this year and lectures will commence as soon as the college reopens in Junerdquo While the principal was not available the viceprincipal completely denied the allegations about the lack of drinking water and the ban on the use of elevators imposed on the students Subhash Deo director of examinations University of Mumbai said ldquoI am looking into the matter The principal of the college is out of station but I am issuing instructions to resolve all the problems at the exam centrerdquou00a0