Vijayawada: Student hostels to get a facelift

Vijayawada: Krishna District Collector J Nivas said the district administration would give a facelift to the students' hostels and basic amenities will be improved for the conveniences of students.

He said 178 hostels in Krishna district were being maintained by social welfare, tribal welfare and BC welfare departments. Addressing the media on Saturday, Collector Nivas said around Rs 20 crore would be spent to provide basic amenities in the hostels.

He said emphasis will be laid on improving hygiene and clean toilets and washrooms will be provided for the students. He said 138 hostels are housed in government buildings and detailed study has been made on improving amenities in these hostels.

He said more than 5,000 students were staying in 178 hostels in the district and development works will be executed under the Nadu-Nedu scheme in the next few months. He said uniformity will be maintained in arranging the sanitary ware, taps, pipes, doors and other materials in all hostels so that the staff working in the district can be used to address the problems like repairs across the district. Nivas said it will be very easy to supervise and maintain the hostels if there is uniformity in construction and maintenance.

Nivas said Panchayati Raj, RWS, Housing and other departments engineers will have to adopt each hostel and ensure that quality works are done swiftly in five months. He informed that only branded material (Jaquar) and ceramic tiles will be used in washrooms. He said WPC doors will be used for toilet and bathroom doors and wall mounted mirror will be set up. He said the old doors and windows will be replaced and mosquito nets will be arranged for the convenience of hostel inmates. Tap connections and electricity connections will be concealed and LED bulbs and fans will be fitted. He said for the convenience of cooks, mixers and grinders will be arranged.

Nivas said that the hostels' overall look will be changed after completing the renovation works. Playing area will also be created and playing equipment will be arranged for the students.

He said the difference between the high quality sanitary ware and ordinary will be 20-30 percent only and felt the quality materials will give long service and maintenance will be easy. Nivas said all class rooms will be connected to the bathrooms with pathways and high quality of tiles will be used in uniform colour and size in the hostels in the district. He said western toilets will be arranged in all hostels replacing Indian style toilets.