PESHAWAR, Aug 30: The Islamia College University has gotten its two boys’ hostels vacated for girl students.

The two hostels located on the premises have the lodging capacity of 480.

At the same time, the ICU administration has decided to take up with the provincial chief minister the pending approval of the PC-1 for the construction of a 500-capacity hostel for girl students.

Earlier, the university had rented a private hostel in Danishabad Akbar Town area for its 450 girl students.

Now, all these girls will move to Arbab Behram Manzil and Khushhal hostels.

The boys earlier living there are being accommodated in other hostels.

Currently, a 12 feet wall of ‘bricks and barbed wires’ is being built around the two hostels.

However, some girl students say they will feel insecure at the two hostels as they are surrounded by the boys’ hostels.

According to them, they will have to pass through the boys’ hostels to move between their hostels and the university.

In December last year, the Awami National Party-led provincial government had announced the construction of a separate hostel for girl students on the university premises with a lodging capacity of 500.

There followed the preparation of the Rs274 million worth of PC-1 for the purpose.

However, the project later was backburnered.

Members of the ICU administration said Arbab Behram Manzil and Khushhal hostels could lodge 180 and 300 girls respectively.

They said of the 600 girls enrolled in the university, around half of them belonged to Charsadda, Mardan and Nowshera districts, and the adjoining Khyber and Mohmand agencies and they had to travel daily between the premises and their areas due to unavailability of hostel facility.

The members of the administration said construction of a separate hostel would ease misery of lots of girls.

When contacted, former principal of the ICU, girls’ branch and current chairwoman of the psychology department Dr Madiha Asghar welcomed the move and said it would benefit girl students earlier lodging in a private hostel off the premises.

“I welcome this step. The girls being a vulnerable segment of society need more protection and security. This makeshift lodging arrangement at the university will help them feel much secure and confident,” she said.

Dr Madiha said she had contributed to the preparation of the girls’ hostel PC-1 but it had yet to get the government’s approval.

She appealed to the PTI government to help ICU build a separate hostel for girls on the premises.

Dr Naseeb Dar Mohammad, senior provost at Islamia College, Peshawar, said a 12 feet brick and barbed wall was being erected around Arbab Behram Manzil and Khushal hostels.

He said the admission process of resident girl students had been completed.

Dr Naseeb said two private hostels for senior students outside the campus near the PTCL Colony had been rented with senior teachers being tasked with overseeing them.

“Female teachers along with other supportive staff will supervise the two girls hostels. The boys earlier living there are being accommodated in other hostels,” he said.

Dr Naseeb said constructing a separate hostel for girls was the administration’s topmost priority.

Meanwhile, some Insaf Student Federation, People’s Student Federation and Islami Jamiat Talba activists said they would protest the administration’s move to get the boys’ hostels vacated once the university opened on Sept 3 after vacation.