Cuet TSC, cafeteria remain unused for over 2yrs

A cup of tea, friends sitting in groups while some arguing over anything and everything -- these are the scenes come to mind when someone pictures a university cafeteria or a Teacher-Student Centre.

Besides, university-based student organisations run their activities from the TSC buildings.

But in Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, a cafeteria or TSC building is a glaring example of waste of money.

The construction of two buildings on Cuet TSC premises started way back in 2007, with Tk 1,10,00,00 allocated by the Department of Education and Engineering.

However, construction works came to a halt soon, because of "budget constraints", as claimed by the Cuet authorities.

It took years to restart the construction again, with some TK 50 lakh provided by Cuet Alumni Association and contribution of the university authorities.

Contacted, the authorities maintained secrecy on how much money was actually spent in total to construct the buildings.

Although the construction work finally came to an end in 2019, students claimed that the establishments have not been opened for them yet.

Wishing anonymity, they alleged that the administrative activities of the Student Welfare Department are being conducted from the building.

Besides, the university administration has conducted admission tests in TSC and given permission to the students to conduct a handful of meetings and events.

Contacted, Prof Rezaul Karim, director of student welfare of Cuet, said a catering service is being sought for the cafeteria. "It'll be inaugurated once the matter gets sorted," he said.

Regarding the allocation of rooms for student organisations, he said the number of rooms are less than active student bodies.

"We have to be strategic in allocating rooms. We'll come to a solution soon," he added.