Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Acting on the complaints of the hostelites, the Special squad of the social welfare department conducted random checking in the 54 government hostels in the State and found that 28 complaints were true. Wardens of these 28 hostels have been served show cause notices and facing inquiry.
Minister for social Justice Sanjay Rathod informed the Legislative Council on Thursday while replying to Calling Attention Motion moved by Shiv Sena (UBT) legislator Manisha Kayande, BJP’s Prasad Lad, Nagorao Ganar and Ramesh Patil.
Rathod said, the social welfare department conducted a ‘Samvad’ programme under which the officials themselves stayed in the hotels and interacted with students living in the government hostels.
In this dialogue activity, the officials noticed some wardens are not living in the hostels, lack of clean drinking water and hot water, lack of library, complaints about food, lack of cleanliness in the hostel, computers in the computer room are malfunctioning, non-payment of sustenance allowance to inmates, lack of electricity in the toilets, fire extinguisher and inverter system not in good condition, CCTV system not working, doors, window glass, bathroom and toilet in bad condition, registers not up to date and other problems were came to fore, Minister Rathod said.
Rathod further informed that the government operates 441 hostels for backward classes including 221 for boys A total of 43,358 students are living in these hostels, he added.
According to the request registered by the regional offices regarding providing necessary facilities in the hostels, iron cot, dual desk, tables, chairs, iron cupboard, laboratory table, laboratory benches, laboratory materials are being provided by the department. Rupees 59.43 lakh will be spent to procure the material. Also, orders of Rs 4.40 crore have been given for supply of reserve materials like bedsheets, woolen blanket and mattress. The government is spending Rs 7.50 crore to repair 31 government hostels, he added.
MLC Kayande stated that Rs 64 crore were allocated to provide basic amenities at the hostels in 2021. Despites thies, the inmates are living in poor conditions, she claimed and added that the inmates are not getting a sustenance allowance for the past six months. She also raised the issue of molestation of a teenage girl in a hostel at Nagpur city that took place on December 15.
Congress legislator Adv Abhijeet Wanjari raised the issue of delayed admission process in the hostel and demanded that the process should be conducted at Divisional level.
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The article highlights the challenges faced by government hostels, including concerns over management, maintenance, and student welfare. It emphasizes the need for better supervision, improved facilities, and timely action to ensure a safe and comfortable living environment for hostel residents.
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