Students’ Union of School of Agricultural Sciences & Rural Development (SASRD), Nagaland University, Medziphema has asked the State government as well as the authorities concerned to look into the plethora of ills plaguing the campus as soon as possible.
In a press release, SASRD students’ union regretted that the university campus was being plagued by issues regarding basic amenities like road, electricity, water and internet connectivity despite it being the only agricultural Institute in Nagaland and has students from all over India.
The institute also shares its location with other important training institutes like Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH), Veterinary Field Assistant Training Institute (VFATI), State Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute (SAMETI), in addition to important sub-divisional offices.
The students’ body pointed out that the main road connecting the university campus to Medziphema town, which was about 5 km in length and used on a daily basis by all citizens of the town, was in a deplorable conditions, saved occasionally by mud filling of pot holes, due to which the student community, staff and general citizens face a great deal of hardships.
It alleged that no proper repairing work had been done for decades and, as such, was in dire need of a major reconstruction.
Mentioning that the campus also faced the problem of access to clean water supply throughout the year, the union pointed out that power and internet connectivity were other perennial problems being faced by the student community and residents of the campus.
The union pointed out that, being a research and technical-oriented institute, SASRD was centred on laboratory works that required continuous supply of electricity. However, it alleged that students and residents of Medziphema had to frequently bear the brunt of frequent load-shedding that sometime went on for days, coupled with frequent breakdown of transformers in and around the town leading to power cuts and fluctuations, all of which greatly hampered the smooth functioning of research and academic activities.
Referring to poor internet connectivity in the campus, the union mentioned that good internet connectivity was still a far cry for the students and staff at the campus.
At a juncture where the world was moving towards digitalisation with all the aspects centred on electricity and internet connections, the student body lamented that residents of the campus were facing problems with these basic services.
It alleged that though the authorities concerned had been apprised of the issues time and again, no tangible actions had been taken so far.