KOCHI: A heritage site that boasts of history over a century old, the Maharaja’s College campus in the heart of the city is today in a sorry state of affairs. Despite being an iconic structure, the college building and the sprawling campus clearly tell a story of neglect.The walls and trees on the 10-acre campus where the prestigious college came into being in 1870 today stand mute witnesses to the ugliness around. The drain water from the General Hospital and its unbearable stench welcome you from either side of the main entrance and from there, every step shows you filthy sites that mar the beauty of the age-old buildings. The drains are clogged and the old toilets have little facilities to speak of. The decorative fountains and ponds that once held clean water and beautiful blooms are now covered with stagnant, dirty water, plastic bottles and garbage. Needless to say, these tanks are perfect havens for the mosquitoes.Basic facilities like dustbins are a rare sight on the entire campus. “We don’t have any waste-disposal system and the Corporation hardly visits the site,” students at the college reveal. The wooden ceilings and walls are covered with cobwebs. Classrooms and corridors have an air of apathy, littered with paper, plastic, dry leaves.Although, some efforts at a facelift have been recently done, the sheer size of the place demands a more concerted drive.“The electric wires are old and fans and lights don’t work in most classes, which are dark and dingy. We also need toilets with better facilities,” said College Union General Secretary Afsal.A few students, explaining the poor conditions in the college said that cardboard was being used to divide classrooms, and four staff toilets block the corridors that led to different parts of the campus, thereby breaking heritage conservation norms.“After the Plus-Two level was delinked, the number of sweepers has been reduced although the campus remains the same. The PTA has appointed one sweeper who is not enough to keep the campus clean. We have only two full-time and one part-time sweeper. Unless the the PWD gives us the sweeping-area we can’t request the Directorate of Collegiate education for more sweepers,” admitted Principal S Valsalakumari. “The sweeping area will be submitted within three or four days. We have sent an estimate of the other work that needs to be done to the government,” said PWD assistant engineer Narayana Pillai. “The work of the parking area and toilet block is almost over. We have entrusted the PWD with the maintenance of the drains and electricity. The auditorium and library will also get a facelift soon,” said District Collector Sheik Pareeth, who is also the Chairman of the Maharaja’s College Development Committee.But till all this happens on the ground, a hallowed centre of learning will continue to feel the brunt of long-time neglect.
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