Vizag hostels paint a gloomy picture

Visakhapatnam: Hostels that provide shelter to hundreds of private employees and students who came from different destinations to Visakhapatnam now paint a gloomy picture.

From the time the government announced the nation-wide curfew to extended lockdown and unlock 2.0, those running hostel facilities find the going tough.

There are more than 500 hostels across Visakhapatnam. MVP Colony, Rama Talkies, areas surrounding Andhra University, RTC Complex, Dwaraka Nagar, One Town Area, Gajuwaka and Malkpuram are the main neighbourhoods where a number of hostels are located.

An army of contract workers and outsourced staff working in various organisations depend on hostels located at Malkapuram and Gajuwaka.

When it comes to other areas such as MVP Colony, Rama Talkies and RTC Complex, the hostel facility is being availed by students.

Each hostel has a capacity of 30 to 200 and the monthly rent alone amounts to Rs 50,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh depending on the area and locality. "The maintenance cost has gone up for us and our income has come to a standstill. Despite the lockdown period, we have to pay salaries for the staff, rent for the building and electricity charges. These recurring expenses cannot be avoided. Non-locals who could not head to their hometown were served in the hostels itself. For this, we used to engage cook and other staff," says Chandrasekhar, secretary of Sri Visakha Hostel Owners Association.

Representatives from hostel associations approached building owners to provide them respite by slashing rent and electricity charges. They also appealed to District Collector and Police Commissioner to come to their aid in times of uncertainty. "Fortunately, 10 per cent of the building owners agreed to cut down the rent by 50 per cent. But even then, we are not able to meet the expenses. However, some of the owners forced us to vacate the facility. This has forced us to fall into a debt trap," laments P Manga Rani, president of Sri Visakha Hostel Owners Association.

While a majority of hostels remained shut during lockdown, the rest registered a scanty occupation. In order to tide over the current crisis, the association representatives' demand that they be provided with an option of unsecured loans like MSMEs availing the credit facility in the banks.