The Hindu college has undertaken a demolition drive for the boys' hostel for a new remake. The eight-decade old hostel building is being razed for a new construction as it had become old and damaged.
The building had the capacity to accommodate thousands of students. However, the college was contemplating on constructing additional two floors on the building to house more students. As the base was not strong enough to sustain any further construction, the administration decided to demolish the building and construct a new one.
News agency PTI quoted Anju Srivastava, principal of the college as saying, “The hostel building, which housed thousands of students over its eight-decade run, is too infirm to carry on in its present state and the college plans to reconstruct it. The new building will be a four storeyed structure with a stilt and will be ready by 2026. This will lead to doubling of its capacity to accommodate the growing intake of students in the college.”
The current building is about 80 years old and the administration has already spent a lot of money in different phases to make it sustainable, adds Ms Srivastava. "We also got engineers to test the foundation of the hostel to check if it can take additional two floors but the base is not that strong. There is a huge amount of pressure on the hostel. Therefore, the governing body decided to direct the rebuilding of the hostel," she said.
Calling it as need of the hour, Hindu College's former principal Kavita Sharma said, “One could choose to look at this as a need to grow with time or move forward while preserving the memory of the old. The current alumni will not be able to identify the building even though new students will make new memories. There is a need to preserve some part of the history. A balance should be maintained between the old and the new," she said.
Structure of the new building
The new building will be a four storeyed structure with a stilt and will be ready by 2026, informs the principal. This will result in doubling capacity of the building. The new hostel will be designed to house the growing intake of students in the college. The new structure is being built at a cost of Rs 50 crore and will house more than 500 students. The new hostel is likely to be ready in two to three years.
The Hindu college's boys hostel was built in 1953 on Sudhir Bose Marg on North Campus. Several distinguished personalities including government officials, political personalities, artists, and famous actors have studied in the college.
The report further cites the sources as saying that the old building has been closed since the Covid-19 pandemic. Some alumni also wish to take parts of debris from the hostel and keep them as mementos.