Nanjangud: If the first Independence Day could be celebrated at midnight and if Goods and Services Taxes could be launched at midnight, here in Karnataka, Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya thinks why not a boys’ hostel be inaugurated at midnight. At least from what happened in Nanjangud yesterday midnight, it could well be taken that either the organisers or the Minister wanted to imitate the midnight ceremonies organised by the Central government.

While the midnight celebration of freedom inspired millions in India, Minister Anjaneya’s event kept over 70 students hungry for over 8 hours as they were waiting for the Minister to arrive and do the honours.  

The occasion was the inauguration of Government Post-Matric Boy’s Hostel at Vidyanagar in Nanjangud. The hostel was constructed at a cost of Rs. 2.65 crore and Minister Anjaneya was scheduled to inaugurate it at 3 pm and even the invitation card had the same timings mentioned. But the Minister created a record of sorts by arriving at around 11 pm and it was beyond 12.30 am when the event concluded.

Before arriving in Nanjangud, the Minister had told local officials that he would have dinner with the students. Following the Minster’s order, officials brought over 70 high school, first and second PU students to the event to make up for the numbers and made them sit at the venue. The students were brought from the school after their lunch at around 1.30 pm.

According to villagers, the students had occupied the seats and were made to miss the dinner that was scheduled at 7.30 pm, waiting for the Minister. The students did not utter a word though they were hungry.

Finally, seeing the desperate situation, some villagers and parents led by R. Vijayakumar and C. Mallesh took officials to task and forced them to serve dinner to students at 9.30 pm. Worse was the students had to walk back to their hostels that was 1.5 km away from the event venue.

The Minister finally arrived at 11 pm along with Chamarajanagar Member of Parliament R. Dhruvanarayan and Nanjangud MLA Kalale Keshavamurthy and had dinner at around 12.45 am at the dining hall of the hostel, but without students.

Though the Minister arrived at Nanjangud at 9 pm, he had to first take part at an event organised at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan to distribute loans to women self-help groups. According to Social Welfare Department officials, the Minister’s inordinate delay was due to his packed schedule and the initial delay that occurred in Bengaluru.

Officials said Anjaneya had to accompany Chief Minister Siddharamaiah at a press conference about International Ambedkar Convention in Bengaluru yesterday and this had caused the delay. The Minister also justified his delay.

Reaction of a parent: The Minister, instead of expressing regret, justified his delayed arrival. However, he knew about his dinner engagement with students at 7.30 pm.  In fact, it was fixed at his request. Since he arrived at Nanjangud at 9 pm, he could have attended the students’ hostel function first with dinner instead of going to the loan distribution function.

— An angry father of a student