Hostels to double up as COVID Care Centres?

Students leave for homes from University hostels; struggle to find buses

Mysore/Mysuru: The University of Mysore has asked students staying at various hostels under its jurisdiction to vacate as the institution is formally closed till May 15. The academic centre will open only after fresh guidelines are issued by the Government. 

Sources told Star of Mysore this morning that the District Administration and the Mysuru City Corporation were planning to convert hostels as COVID Care Centres in case there is an explosion in Coronavirus positive cases. The University authorities have already been informed to be ready with hostel rooms at their disposal in case there is a requirement. 

It may be mentioned here that last year too, the administration had reserved and sanitised many hostel barracks to set up the Care Centres, but many of them were not used as the numbers subsided after November. Now since the COVID graph is rising, the need for establishing Care Centres has risen. 

Meanwhile, many students who have been asked to vacate the hostels were left stranded on the roads this morning. They were seen walking to the bus stands with their heavy bags. Even at the bus stands only limited buses were available to take them to their hometowns. 

While there were some inter-State buses, the KSRTC had only 50 buses that were ready to travel from the Sub-Urban Bus Stand to various destinations including Bengaluru. Students were seen crowding the enquiry counters seeking information on the number of buses and their timings. 

Many students preferred connecting bus service to destinations as direct route buses were not available