AMC Hostels Run Out Of Gas, Use Wood

Visakhapatnam: The prestigious Andhra Medical College has begun cooking food on firewood for their hostel students after their LPG stocks ran out.

The college has an undergraduate boys hostel for 464 students, the girls’ hostel has the same strength and PG hostels for men and women accommodate 300 students.

On Tuesday, rice was seen being cooked on a firewood pit in the boys’ undergraduate hostel. The cooks said this has been so for the last one week after the last cylinder gas got exhausted.

Principal of the medical college Prof Sandhya Devi however denied there was a shortage of cooking gas.

“We have cylinders for two more days and the staff at the boys’ hostel is using them sparingly. Firewood is being used only to cook rice while other items are being cooked on gas stoves,’’ she explained.

Devi said the boys’ hotel for undergraduates needed two commercial cylinders each weighing 14.5 kg per day and the same number for the girls’ hostel. The PG hostels for men and women needed two cylinders per day, she said.

She appraised the matter to the district collector and the district supply officer and they have promised to send the cylinders on Wednesday morning.

“The only undergraduate boys’ hostel is using firewood, whereas the girls’ undergraduate hostel and PG hostels are using cylinders as they are being managed by private contractors,” she explained.

Andhra University hostels are also facing problems due to the shortage of cooking gas cylinders.

“Recently, a meeting was convened for wardens and we were told that we may have to use wood if the situation did not improve. We changed the menu and avoided all fried items,’’ said science colleges' warden P Siddhaiah.

Andhra University has 33 hostels, including 23 for men and 10 for women, accommodating over 5,200 students (3,200 men, 2,000 women) across various academic colleges, including arts and science.