Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday ordered construction of 44 new hostels for Adi Dravidars and tribal students in the State at a cost of Rs 35.4 crore.
An official release said at present, the hostels were functioning in private buildings.
The government announced allocation of Rs 88.53 lakh per hostel to be constructed in the three hilly regions to accommodate 50 boys or girls. Similarly, in the plains, 41 hostels would be built at a cost of Rs 78.99 lakh each to house 50 inmates.
The hostels would come up in six places in Pudukottai district; five places each in Coimbatore and Tirunelveli districts; three each in Salem, Sivaganga, Villupuram, Tiruchi and Kancheepuram districts; two places each in Dindigul, Namakkal, Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts and one each in the Nilgiris, Tiruvallur, Tuticorin, Krishnagiri and Tiruppur districts, the release said. The Chief Minister announced that Rs. 12.36 crore would be set apart for buying mixers in two phases for noon meal and child care centres. Initially, 43,787 noon meal centres and 9,094 child care centres would get the mixers and in the second phase, 46,448 noon meal centres would get mixers.
