Taking a serious note of a report that appeared in The Hindu on Monday, Prakasam district Joint Collector S. Nagalakshmi on Monday directed the officials concerned to act swiftly to address the problems in the State-run hostels in a time-bound manner.
Taking note of the fact that the ST Welfare Hostel at Balajinagar here lacked even a bathroom for the students, she sought an explanation from the Social Welfare department officials. “The file for construction of toilets in the hostel is being processed. They will be constructed sooner than later,” she told The Hindu .
A survey of the condition of all State-run hostels, including those meant for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, would be taken up in a time-bound manner, she said, adding that “the problems will be addressed based on a factual report which is expected in the next one week to 10 days.”
“We will prioritise the repair works to be taken up in the hostels,” she added.
Mess charges
Meanwhile, students under the banner of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a dharna in front of Prakasam Bhavan here in protest against the poor upkeep of State-run hostels.
A majority of the 184 SC, ST and BC hostels were in a dilapidated condition, complained ABVP district secretary T. Hanumanth.
It was unfortunate that the State government spent just ₹750-850 per month on each inmate of school and ₹1,050 in case of a college hostel student at a time when prices of all essential commodities skyrocketed, he said, adding this was far below the amount spent on inmates of prisons.
‘Fill hostel warden posts’
Rajamahendravaram Special Correspondent adds:
The ABVP local unit on Monday staged a dharna at the Sub-Collector’s office here on government welfare hostels’ issues. ABVP district organising secretary Suman and city secretary Karthik led the protest and later gave a representation to in charge Sub-collector and municipal commissioner V. Vijayarama Raju.
Addressing the protesters, Mr. Suman sought increase in cosmetic charges too apart from other demands. He also wanted the State government to fill hostel warden posts and replace ration rice with fine variety of rice.
