Slum alley in DU Administrative Building

DU Correspondent :

The balcony from the transcript branch to the script branch of Dhaka University Administrative Building now looks like a ‘Slum alley’.  So many evaluation completed exam papers and documents have been placed so high on both sides of the balcony that it is almost impossible for two people to walk through the middle at the same time and if any of them is an employee of the building bearing a bag of official documents can’t do that.

This place houses Transcript, Despatch, Medical, Bill and Script departments and all of these are under the Exam Controller’s Office. Many of the students of DU and the colleges under DU such as Seven Colleges, Medical Colleges, Textile colleges come to the transcript office to collect their transcript and they subject to suffering for this shortage space.

There is no CC Camera looking the area or any type of security systems to directly protect the documents from stealing. Storms, rain and humidity are undoubtedly damaging the documents for keeping them in the open place.

Sources said, these exam papers used to place in the script department but now they are being placed for space shortage in the balcony for at least 15 years. The number of these increased several times after seven colleges affiliating under DU.

They also said, the evaluated exam papers are preserved for six months and then they are sold. Unessential papers have been sold one time after 5 August, 2024 by the approval of former Controller of Examination, Bahalul Haque Chowdhury, but the present controller couldn’t be able to sell them for once and so the quantity of these papers got increased and are creating the problems.

There are many Almirahs and documents openly in the balcony of 206 to 207 and 321(A) to 350 number rooms which also made the space shorter and impacts on the environment impeding air and sunlight to enter. Most of these places do not covered by CC camera and so these open documents are under threat.

Dr Himadri Shekhar Chowdhury, Controller of Examination of DU in charge, told The New Nation, “The part of where the papers are placed in this old building is in a risky state for heavyweight issues for piling the papers up in one place.”

He said, “The man who got the tender to buy the papers is now saying he won’t buy because the market is now lower than the tender processing time. That is why, we couldn’t sell the papers. We  will call for the second man of the tender process.”

Munshi Shams Uddin Ahmed, Registrar in charge of DU, said The New Nation, “There is not enough space to place the Almirahs in the Registrar Building and if this problem is solved in future then the Almirah Problem will be solved.”