Living in private hostels

Students have no option but to eat low quality food

Sohail Rashid

RAWALPINDI, September 30, 2010: The students residing in private hostels and flats are facing health problems because of having substandard food from hotels.

A large number of students studying in the universities of twin cities belong to far-off places. These students have no choice other than living in a private hostel or getting a flat or room on rent. Whatever the case may be, all of them have to rely on the hostel mess or hotel food, which is affecting their health badly because of its substandard quality.

In a survey conducted by INFN, students expressed anger over quality of food served in hotels and messes.

Hamid Chughtai, a student living in a private hostel near Shamsabad, said: “I often remain sick because of low quality food served in my hostel. There is no use of changing my residence as the same situation prevails in other hostels too”. He said that after getting sick and tired from his mess menu, he goes out to have dinner from the nearby hotel whose food quality is also doubtful, but at least it has a wide array of dishes to choose from.

“I always suffer stomach problems because of poor quality food that I eat from my hotel”, said Tabish Ali, living in a private hostel along Murree Road. He said that there is no difference between the hostel and hotel foods, as both use low quality ghee. “I prefer to have my meal from the hotel just because it offers me a wide choice in the menu otherwise its quality is the same as that of the hostel”, he added.

Asad Naseer, another student who lives in a flat with his friends along Saidpur Road, said: “Having food from posh restaurants is not affordable for me. I have to rely on roadside hotels. I know that they serve unhygienic food but I have no option”.

Kashif Iqbal lives in a room on rent. He said that after remaining sick for almost one month, he had come back from his hometown a few days back. “I suffered from severe stomach problem because of eating substandard food”, he explained.

Amir Mushtaq, another student, said: “We can’t even pay attention to our studies due to the food problems. Those hostels, which are providing good quality food and residence, are not within our approach because of their high expenses. We are left with a single option of living in second-rate hostels”.

He further said that university hostels serve quality food, but they have inadequate space. “The government should construct hostel buildings for students with all basic facilities”, he concluded.