About 200 students staying in Kamala Nehru Government Working Women’s Hostel, near the court complex in the city are left in the lurch with the hostel canteen being shut for the last two days.
The problem began when the three cook-cum-helpers, working there on a contract basis, were allegedly terminated from their jobs on February 28 (Wednesday).
Workers meet MLA
It is learnt that the three cooks have met Malladi Vishnu, the local MLA, urging him to recommend to the government to give their jobs back. “We have been working in the hostel for the last 20 years. Suddenly, the officers terminated our jobs without any reason,” the cooks told the MLA.
On the other hand, the district officials of the Women Development and Child Welfare Department (WD&CW) officials, under whose purview the hostel runs, maintain that the staff were not removed from their jobs and that they had left the jobs themselves.
Official speaks
WD&CW NTR District Project Director G. Uma Devi told The Hindu on Saturday that the three cooks were not removed from service, but they left the hostel without intimation. “The canteen in the working women’s hostel will be reopened soon,” she said.
Meanwhile, the hostel inmates, mostly belonging to lower income groups and hailing from smaller towns and villages of Krishna, West Godavari, Guntur and Prakasam districts have been anguished that the development happened during the examination time where they cannot afford to go back home.
“I joined the hostel a few months ago and am taking coaching for bank exams. The hostel management suddenly stopped the canteen on Thursday,” said a student from the Guntur district.
“We have been suffering from hunger for two days and can’t afford to have food in outside hotels. Many students were attending classes with empty stomachs. The management should reopen the canteen immediately,” said another student of Prakasam district.
Many of them prepare for competitive exams for government jobs or pursue higher studies and are now forced to choose between staying hungry or shelling out money to buy food from outside canteens and hotels. They urge the officials to resolve the issue at the earliest.
