There used to be a grave shortage of hostels at Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal in the past few years. Earlier, MANIT had 7 hostel buildings, of which, one building was allocated to female students and the remaining were allotted to male students of different years. When I joined the college in 2012, some of the first year students were allotted halls in the Energy Centre due to insufficient hostels. Similarly, some second year students were also allotted rooms in the faculty guest house. After several complaints from the students, our Director, Dr. Appu Kuttan, and the administration took the decision to build new hostels and new classrooms to tackle the shortage problem.

In 2013, Hostel 8, Block A was completed and was ready for allotment. But, this new hostel was not able to completely contain the shortage issue. The new building could not suffice the second year students who were only allotted hostel 4 and some part of hostel 3.  

The rooms in hostels 3, 4, 5 and 6 were designed for a single person. Yet, these rooms were allotted to 2 people based on their academic performance. Besides, the students who were not allotted rooms had to take an NOC from the authorities and adjust in their friends rooms. This led to 3 people living in a room that was ideally designed for a single student. In 2014, the B block of hostel 8 was completed and more students were allocated rooms. Despite that, till today, two students live in a room built for one person. 

Recently, two new hostels were constructed and one of them has already been allotted to NRI students. Along with that, a decision has been conveyed to us by the authorities about a new hostel allocation plan from the next year. In the circular its stated that 

Hostel 1, 2, 3 will be allotted to 1st years

Hostel 4, 5, 6 will be allotted to 2nd years

Hostel 7 will be allotted to Girls of all Years.

Hostel 8 both A and B block will be allotted to 3rd years

Hostel 9 will be allotted to NRI students.

Hostel 10 Block A, B, C will be allotted to 4th years

Hostel 10 Block D will be allotted to M.tech, MBA and MCA students.

Finally, the old NRI hostels will be allotted to Ph.D. students.

With the completion of the new hostels, I am confident that there will be no more shortage of hostels at MANIT. We are very thankful to the director of our college, Dr. Appu Kuttan.K.K who kept in mind the difficulties faced by the students and accelerated the construction of the new hostels.

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