V-C for privatisation of Kakatiya varsity hostel mess

Warangal: With the privatisation of university hostel mess an amount of two to three crore rupees would be saved, said Kakatiya University Vice Chancellor Prof B Venkata Rathnam. He has appealed to the protesting university students to give up their agitation against the privatisation of the mess as the measure was aimed at benefiting them. He spoke to press persons here on Tuesday in the backdrop of the ongoing protests by the students for the past few days.

It might be noted that they have been on the warpath demanding the authorities to withdraw the decision to privatise the hostel mess immediately. They took up relay hunger strike and were trying to put pressure on the VC by inviting politicians to their camp to highlight the issue.

The VC has informed that the outsourcing of the mess has achieved tremendous positive results such as avoiding wastage and bringing down the monthly expenditure. ‘The decrease in the monthly expenditure would otherwise help the students and the funds thus saved could be used for their welfare,’ he explained.

The prices of fuels, vegetables and essential commodities have gone up manifold. The labour hired for running the mess has become a burden on the university and that was why the decision to hand over the mess to private persons was taken, he added.

Prof. Venkata Rathnam said that since the government does not make any provision of funds for running hostels in budget the university has to spend from its funds towards the maintenance of the hostels. There were old dues to the tune of Rs One crore, and the unpaid mess bills by some students were of 20 years old. The audit officials have been raising objections over this. In order to bring down the expenditure the university has decided to outsource the mess.

The decision was taken after the students have agreed to the proposal as they wanted reduced mess bill The hostel mess was run successfully during the last academic year by a private contractor. Meanwhile, unmindful of the vice-chancellor’s appeal Telangana Rashtra Samithi students’ wing leader Jorike Ramesh has warned that if the authorities failed to withdraw privatization of the mess, they would lay siege to Raj Bhavan. On the other hand the members of students unions like TGVP, TJSF, MSF, ABVP, TGA and TRSV have demanded opening of the mess for the students.