In the past six years, the number of students at the country’s premier technology institute has increased by 28 per cent and is rapidly approaching the 6,000 mark. This increase means that at the end of three years, as the OBC student intake fulfills the 27 per cent criteria, there will be a shortage of infrastructure, especially in hostels.

“When I entered as a fresher in 2005, all second, third and fourth year students were given single rooms. As second year students in 2006, we were made to double up because of a shortage of rooms, and 60 of us were sent to hostel 13 which was newer and had more space,” said IIT-B Hostel Association General Secretary Ashwin Soni.

In the single rooms where students are doubled up, there is a meagre 4-5 inches of space between beds, hardly enough for students to move about. The small size of the rooms also makes it near impossible for any new additions — even cupboards and tables — and students who have individual PCs have no place to put them. “Another problem is bathrooms. When they were made, they were meant for a certain number of students. Now as there are more people in the hostel, the resources available can’t meet all the requirements,” said Soni.

This year, around 1,048 students passed out of the institution, whereas 1,734 students have come in, increasing the pressure on the resources available. In hostels 12 and 13, two extra wings are in the process of being added, and each wing will have approximately 200 rooms, which makes it 800 in all.

Dean of Student Affairs Prakash Gopalan said, “There is a space crunch and we are short of rooms. We are planning extensions in hostels 12 and 13, and 600 rooms should be available by early 2010,” he said, adding that there are plans to build new hostels — 14 and 15 — though they are still in the drawing room stage.