New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) A 20-year-old student was injured after a portion of the bathroom ceiling collapsed at a hostel in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on Thursday morning, officials said.

The incident took place at the Sabarmati Hostel.

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Hours after the incident, the university said it had received Rs 56.34 crore for hostel repairs.

"JNU receives a grant of Rs 56.34 crore towards hostel repairs and maintenance. VC Prof. Santishree D. Pandit, in keeping with her mission of a student centric & friendly administration, thanks the UGC & MoE for the release of the grant," the university said in a tweet.

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JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit visited the Sabarmati Hostel after the incident and spoke to students, according to sources. She assured students that no untoward incident will happen again.

She said the university had received funds from the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) and these would be immediately used for hostel repairs.

The student, Md Fasihul Hassan, said he had received five to seven stitches in his head.

"The incident happened at 10.30 am...I was in shock for some time when the incident happened and then I stepped out. My seniors tied a gamcha around my head to stop the bleeding and took me to the university's health centre from where I was referred to Safdarjung Hospital," he told PTI.

Hassan hails from Aurangabad in Bihar and took admission to the university in 2020 but due to the COVID-19-induced restrictions, he had not come to campus. It was only in February this year that physical classes resumed and he came to the campus for the first time.

The BA second-year student of German language said, "The ceiling of the bathroom is low so I escaped alive. But the ceilings of the rooms are higher and had the ceiling of a room collapsed, a student who would have been sleeping on his bed would have died. Every hostel in the university requires repairs. The hostel warden (of Sabarmati) should resign. There have been protests over the issue also."

He said that he had not yet informed his family about the incident yet as they might panic.

According to the Left-affiliated All India Students' Association (AISA), they have time and again brought up the issue of dilapidated hostel infrastructure with the authorities, but the JNU administration has been trying to delay repair on the pretext of paucity of fund.

Earlier, a senior university official said due to dampness, the portion of the bathroom ceiling collapsed and injured the second-year student.

"The student sustained minor injuries and was taken to Safdarjung Hospital by the hostel warden. He is doing fine. He underwent an X-ray which shows everything is fine. The report of CT Scan is awaited," the official said.

The official said there are infrastructure issues in the university and hostels, especially the ones that are old, require repair.

"We have not got funds. We have sought Rs 54 crore from the Executive Council of the university to carry out major repair in hostels but the approval is awaited. We have carried out minor repair in Brahmputra Hostel. Sabarmati Hostel will be next, followed by Narmada. These are old hostels," he added.

When contacted, a senior police officer said, "We have not received any PCR call or any complaint so far in this regard."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)