Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate Late Damodara R. Suvarna Memorial Billava Hostel for Girls built by Akhila Bharatha Billavara Union at a cost of ₹5.25 crore at Kunjathabail in Mangaluru on September 24 at 10 a.m.
Union president Navinchandra D. Suvarna told reporters at Udupi on Saturday that the formal inaugural programme will be held at the Kudmul Ranga Rao Town Hall in the city, attended among others, by senior Congress leader B. Janardhana Poojary.
The hostel will accommodate one hundred girls from Billava and other backward communities. While 25% of the seats will be offered free of cost to deserving girl students, the rest will be offered to others at reasonable charges. Accommodation will be available to girls pursuing courses post their pre university education.
The union, following Brahmashree Narayana Guru’s philosophy of empowering people through education, has built the five-storey hostel on a one-acre campus with 19.500 sqft floor area. The late Damodar Suvarna started the Narayana Guru Educational Institutions upon becoming the president of the union, he said.
Mr. Suvarna said the new hostel building has an administrative office, rooms and library on the ground floor, kitchen and store room in the basement, a multi-purpose hall on the second floor.
The decision to build the hostel was taken after realising that most of the Billava girls discontinued their education after completing the pre university course either due to lack of financial support or due to lack of proper guidance. Therefore, it was decided to provide accommodation to girls pursuing higher education at the hostel
