Some 4500 students of the 6,000 odd, at IIT Kanpur were in for a rude shock when they were asked to cough up approximately Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 each as electricity bill for January 2016. This is a far cry from the odd Rs 2,000 they used to individually pay up per semester.
2016 onwards, IIT-K management decided to charge students as per the total bill, that the hostel they stay in, generates. For instance, those being asked to pay Rs 2,000 for January, have actually run a cumulative bill of almost Rs 5 lakhs for their hostel. In another hostel, the overall bill is Rs 90,000, so students there have been asked to individually pay up Rs 457.
Some 4500 students of the 6,000 odd, at IIT Kanpur were in for a rude shock when they were asked to cough up approximately Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 each as electricity bill for January 2016. This is a far cry from the odd Rs 2,000 they used to individually pay up per semester.
2016 onwards, IIT-K management decided to charge students as per the total bill, that the hostel they stay in, generates. For instance, those being asked to pay Rs 2,000 for January, have actually run a cumulative bill of almost Rs 5 lakhs for their hostel. In another hostel, the overall bill is Rs 90,000, so students there have been asked to individually pay up Rs 457. According to students, the problem lies in the fact that, except for two hostels, none of the other hostel rooms have individual metres. And for the two that have individual electricity meters, the bills hover around Rs 400-500 per student. Students are not too happy paying up for common utility areas in the hostels either – those charges also get included in the cumulative bill that the hostel draws.
IIT-K management told PaGaLGuY that there will be a meeting with student representative in the month of March to find a solution.