At around 11:40 pm on the 11th of May, 2022, there were girls and staff in the hostel that smelled gas and raised concerns.
On the girls hostel group, the concern was expressed and girls started evacuating the building, during the evacuation the alarm went off, and then the entire building was properly evacuated. When the girls were outside, the staff called in the electrician to deal with a gas leak situation, an individual whose field was not concerned with the problem at hand.
After inadequately, checking the possibility of a leak, we were sent inside within 5 minutes.
More girls raised concerns that the smell of gas was getting stronger, and the girls in the hostel were yelled at by staff continuously and told they were creating a scene, and were locked inside the building and restricted from being evacuated. To add on to that, students were physically pushed back into the dorms, against their well, without their concerns being subsided. Students were told to immediately go back to their rooms and avoid lighting matchsticks. They were withheld in what could have been a dangerous scenario.
They did not call the fire brigade, or the police to ensure our safety when the alarm rang off. It should be noted, that the alarm was not rung manually, and detected gas on its own.
At this point, the chief warden arrived and she told the students to go inside and immediately started yelling at all the girls that were outside that we were going to be taken note of, and if we did not go inside, we would be kicked out of the hostel and would face consequences. Parents who were concerned about their kids safety, and arrived to collect them, were rudely dealt with.
The warden did not show responsibility, and the students themselves took the initiative to call the fire department. The girls that called for safety purposes were singled out, they were threatened that they will be reported, and that their hostel allotment was going to be taken away. She told us to go upstairs and turn off all our appliances and that she will not be responsible if something happens due to our appliances. Understandably, students refused and said she could turn off the main switchboard if she wanted and we would not risk our lives.
She then told us that she would not get the hostel checked for a gas leak until all the students were back in their rooms, placing students in danger and tried to undermine the situation.
We all went inside and waited as we were told as the officials assessed the situation.
They finished assessing the situation and came down with the chief warden and called out the name of the person who had called the fire officials and took her outside not letting anyone else leave the building including a student’s mother as support. While they were speaking and the officials said that nothing was wrong. As this conversation was happening, the fire alarm rang for the second time and girls from the dining hall came rushing out saying that there is a very strong smell. Everyone in the hostel evacuated again. The officials went in again. This time they came to saying that the AC outer had leaked.
Lastly, the only reason the students took the initiative to call the concerned departments was because 2 years ago, there was a fire next to the nursing building which got out of control and absolutely no protocol was followed. Students went around the girls hostel, door to door & ask everyone to evacuate the building immediately which was not their job.
In conclusion, there was an oxygen (a flammable gas) leak inside the hostel, something they would not have discovered and informed us if the students hadn’t taken a stand and called the appropriate officials.
Our purpose in writing this application is to inform the administration of the lack of safe management and civil treatment of girls living in the hostel mainly by the chief warden in the event of emergencies. Additionally, we want action to be taken to put in place appropriate protocol in the

 event an incident like this happens again. We will be starting a petition to remove the Chief Warden from her job. We need someone who will protect us and can help us, not a bully who calls girls ‘dumb’ at 1am while they are anxious about their safety.