GUJRAT: Hundreds of students of the University of Gujrat (UoG) are suffering due to the shortage of vehicles in the university’s transport service.

Though some buses were add to the transport fleet by the contractor firm on Monday bringing a partial relief but still the issue is to be resolved completely as more buses are required keeping in view the number of newly-enrolled students, said an official source.

The students had also staged a demonstration at Hafiz Hayat Campus of the varsity against the poor arrangements of transport and hostels by the administration last Tuesday and police had to intervene to defuse the tension on the campus.

The students have to wait for hours to board a bus to their respective areas and these buses are mostly overloaded, causing inconvenience to the students whereas their parents have to experience the agony of long wait for their children at night.

Sources in police said several parents had made phone calls to the emergency 15 during the last few days when their children, particularly daughters, did not return home even at around 10pm. District Police Officer Umar Salamat had to approach the UoG management to convey to it the anxiety of the parents about delayed arrival of students. The DPO reportedly asked the VC to resolve the issue.

A senior official of UoG said the issue had surfaced due to the shortage of vehicles as the contractor firm had engaged its buses somewhere else due to the prolonged closure of campuses during the Covid-19 lockdown and he could not bring the required number of vehicles back to the university. He added that though the exact fleet of the contractor should be of at least 50 vehicles in addition to the university’s own 43 buses and vans but there is a shortage of at least 15 vehicles.

Another source told Dawn that the UoG had enrolled extra students in recent admissions and it had not made the required arrangements to cater to the needs of the students, particularly regarding the transportation and hostels, since the commencement of the classes last week.

It is pertinent to mention that the UoG has been providing the pick and drop facility to all of its students for which it charges fee from each student whether he/she availed the facility or not.

About the issue, UoG Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Shabbar Atiq said the transport firm had brought 38 vehicles instead of total 50 and he had talked to the contractor to meet the vehicles shortage. He said the varsity had received record number of admission applications this time and added it had got two new academic blocks last year, providing enough space for students. At least 7,000 students were enrolled in the university this time as compared to the previous figures of 4,000, he added.

Mr Atiq said he had directed the officials to stop students of fifth and seventh semesters from coming to the campus yet, claiming that the issue would be resolved when the contractor would complete the fleet of buses.

For hostel facilities, the UoG has approached some private hostels to accommodate the students.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2021