Students staying in ladies hostel number 7 of the Manipur University reportedly found worms in the water purifier-cooler of the hostel, putting the hygiene of Manipur University hostels in question, sources said.
The water from the purifier is reportedly used for cooking and drinking purposes by the occupants of the hostel.
Shown in a video made available to the Imphal Free Press, earthworms were found when the students plugged out the exhaust pipe of the water purifier to demand its repair on Sunday.
“The water we collected from the purifier and stored in bottles showed slight change in its colour and became unclean the day after we stored it. We decided to check it so that we could draw the attention of authorities concerned but to our shock, we found earthworms,” said one of the hostellers, who chose to remain anonymous.
Interestingly, the students took out a protest rally on Sunday itself, clanking their plates against non-provision of meals for several months and water shortage in the ladies hostel number 7. They marched to the quarter of the university registrar to whom they highlighted their grievances.
Reportedly they unplugged the pipes of the water purifier ahead of their protest rally, and the discovery of worms was also highlighted to the registrar.
While classes have started at 9 am recently, the students have lamented that they have to skip lunch most of the time owing to non-provision of hostel mess and the difficulty to prepare food themselves and attend the class early at the same time.
After the videos of the students’ protest and the discovery of earthworms in the water purifier were uploaded in social media, the students were allegedly intimidated and threatened by the hostel warden for “tarnishing the image of the university,” the sources said.
