MU's Theatre Arts deptartmen's new building has dirty loos, no water

The Cultural Centre building has dirty toilets

Mumbai University's (MU) Academy of Theatre Arts has finally started operating from a new building, but the set up is giving a tough time to students. The Cultural Centre building, which was lying vacant for almost three to four years, has been allotted to the Academy of Theatre Arts without having basic facilities in place. The building has unusable toilets, broken walls, cracks in ceilings and no water. Though the students have approached the authorities concerned to resolve the problems, nothing much has been done in this regard.

Earlier, the department used to run from the second floor of the Ambedkar Bhavan building at MU's Kalina campus but now it has a completely new building that was built in year 2008, to itself. The Cultural Centre building is not inside the main Kalina campus but located on the other side of the Santacruz-Kurla Road opposite the MU's north gate.

Students spend almost the entire day (9 am to 6 pm) at the building attending lectures and doing rehearsals. Hence, they face a tough time due to the lack of drinking water, food and proper toilets. The building houses the Folk Art and Music Department too.

A student said, "The toilets in the building are completely unusable. They are either broken or are in a filthy condition. Water is always an issue. Tankers are called in to fill the toilet water tanks. For drinking water purpose, mineral water cans are ordered. And worst of all is the complete lack of food. Most of us stay in the hostel so we have our daily meals at the varsity mess. The mess is very far from this centre because the building is practically outside the Kalina campus."

Another student said that even the structure of the building was making it difficult for them to conduct rehearsals.

"Most of the rooms inside the building have an echo effect. This makes it difficult for us to hold rehearsals. There are students pursuing different performing arts courses and rehearsals are an important part. But if the sound at one rehearsal echoes, then it disturbs another rehearsal," a student said.

Students also pointed out that the building looks like an abandoned structure with cracks on its walls and broken false ceilings. They also mentioned of a strange odour at the building, which might be due to damage to a sewage pipeline.

A university official said, "Since the building was built long back and was not used for a while, it doesn't look usable. Work is on to resolve the water problem on priority. Due to the ongoing construction work on the main Santacruz-Kurla Link road of the bridge that will connect SCLR to Western Express Highway, the work related to water is taking longer than usual."

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