COIMBATORE: After waiting for months for the hostel operators to obtain the mandatory licence to run hostels for women, the social welfare department has started to tighten the reins.The department has directed the hostel operators in the district to submit the certificates required to obtain the licence on or before February 15.The operators will have to submit no-objection certificate (NOC) from the police department, medical fitness certificate of the hostel warden and watchmen along with fire safety certificate, sanitation certificate, building stability certificate and building approval licence.An official with the social welfare department said that a team from the department will inspect hostels before providing the licence, which will be issued within a week. “Stringent action will be taken against all those who fail to submit the necessary documents before the stipulated time. We have provisions to imprison them up to two years along with a penalty of 50,000 and issue closure notice,” the official told TOI.It’s been more than six months since the department issued notices to over 400 women’s hostels in the district to obtain the licence. But it has received only 22 applications.While five hostel operators have obtained the licence, applications from some hostels are still under verification, the official said.In the last four years, since the Tamil Nadu Hostels and Homes for Women and Children (Regulation) Act, 2014 was passed, the department has been advertising about the act in newspapers and conducting meetings with hostel operators to create awareness. Under the act, hostels, lodging houses and homes for women and children should be regulated to ensure the safety of the inmates.The number of applications to obtain the licence has increased in the recent days as the department has been conducting meetings twice a month to create awareness among the hostel owners, the official said. “Even though there are more than 1,000 hostels in the district, we managed to find only 400 such facilities. It is mainly because some hostels function in residential buildings without any sign board.”Activists said that the number of facilities functioning without sign boards has increased in the recent times after the department started to tighten the regulation.One of the hostel operators said that he had been waiting for more than three months to obtain fire safety certificate. “I approached the department several times. But the officials are not willing to come for inspection. I was made to run from pillar to post to obtain the building stability certificate. I constructed the building as per the norms and also took steps to obtain the licence. If the officials are not forthcoming, what am I supposed to do?”MV Vijayaragavan, an advocate, stressed on the need for a single window system to streamline the process. “Only then, hostel operators who are reluctant, would come forward to obtain the licence. Also, the department should take the help of other government bodies to identify all women’s hostels in the district. Without identifying all the hostels, how will they find out who did not have a licence?”

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