Ministers inaugurate new buildings at Gangothri Layout, Vasanthanagar

By M.T. Yogesh Kumar

Mysore/Mysuru: At a time when students shy away from Backward Classes Welfare Department Hostels due to the normal dismal conditions there, the same Department in Mysuru has transformed the concept of hostels and has so far provided well-equipped hostels for both boys and girls pursuing their academics.

The Department has gone a step further to build more hostels, buoyed by the encouragement it has received from students and parents alike. Many students of Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Kodagu have made Mysuru city a place for learning.

To accommodate these students, mostly from economically weaker sections of society, the Department was running hostels in different rented buildings. Determined to have buildings of their own, the Department embarked on a major project to construct new hostels and the determination of officers has yielded fruits as five new student hostels are ready to be occupied now. 

These five hostels, inaugurated today, can accommodate over 550 students and can solve the stay and food needs of all those students. Apart from providing infrastructural facilities, it plans to offer many other in-house facilities like computer laboratories.

 In Mysuru, there are 30 hostels run by the Backward Classes Welfare Department and only 12 hostels have buildings of their own while 18 of them continue to function from rented premises, causing a drain of Government resources. Now as five more new hostels have come up, 17 hostels have their own buildings.

These hostels have come up at Vasanthanagar and Gangothri Layout and four hostels have been built on one campus at Vasanthanagar. The site for the project has been procured from Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and buildings have been built in an area of 5414.16 sq. mts.

The ‘A’ Block where accommo-dations will be given to 100 students from D. Devaraj Urs Post-Matric Boys Hostel has been built at a cost of Rs. 3.39 crore and the ‘B’ Block has been built with Rs. 3.48 crore. 

In the ‘C’ Block, built with Rs. 3.58 crore, 130 male students selected from D. Devaraj Urs Engineering and Medical streams will be accommodated. In the ‘D’ Block, built with Rs. 3.58 crore, students from D. Devaraj Urs Post-Matric Boys Hostel and students from professional colleges will be accommodated.

While the hostels at Vasanth-anagar will have a mix of post-matric and professional stu-dents, the hostel constructed at Gangothri Layout at a cost of Rs. 3.26 crore will be reserved for over 110 to 140 post-graduate male students.

 In the five hostels, there are 14 dormitories, separate rooms for physically challenged students, toilets, kitchens, treatment rooms and computer laboratories. In all, the hostels have been built at an estimated cost of  Rs. 17.19 crore. The students will be accommodated at the hostels from the present academic year.

 While the admission process will continue to be based on merit, there will be a strict vigil on how these hostels are managed. The Department rules enlist several tasks expected to be performed by the staff at different levels — starting from wardens to even the cleaning staffers.

“Four hostels have come up at Vasanthanagar and one at Gangothri Layout. All have spacious rooms and dormitories and have been built on the land sanctioned by MUDA at an estimated cost of Rs. 17.19 crore. I am happy that the construction initiative was started and completed under my tenure.” — H.S. Bindiya, District Officer, Backward Classes Welfare Department