Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has sanctioned increase in the capacity of student hostels for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by 1,500 from the current academic year.
It will entail additional expenditure of about Rs.1.18 crore every year.
A release issued on Saturday stated that the hike in the hostels' capacity was approved keeping in mind that many students could not be accommodated in the hostels as a large number of students belonging to SC/ST and Christian Adi-Dravidar community had applied.
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The Chief Minister also ordered rise in the monthly allowance for incidental expenses from Rs.25 to Rs.50 per student for school hostels and Rs.35 to Rs.75 per student for college hostels.
This will benefit 13,013 students of college hostels and 1,07,002 school hostels.