The 10 hostels run by the Tribal Development Department (TDD) in Pune lack basic amenities, especially the seven located on rented premises. Students say their complaints about even minor repairs in these hostels are not addressed, while government officials say that as per rules, they are prevented from ‘spending’ on rented properties, as the property owner is supposed to bear the expenses. Advertising The department runs these hostels so that tribal students, who often hail from far-flung areas of the state, can stay free of cost and pursue their education in Pune. As many as 2,100 tribal students stay in the 10 hostels in the city. Earlier, in a move that was opposed by a section of tribal students, the department had replaced the canteen facility in these hostels with a subsidy programme, under which students were provided monthly allowances for food. The monthly rent for the hostels on rented premises in the city is Rs 14.87 lakh and is paid by the Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDP). EXPLAINED To provide better facilities, govt should build hostels on own land Hostels run by the tribal department are often the only recourse available to tribal students, who want to pursue education in cities. But such hostels often face infrastructural issues that have prompted students to hold protests to highlight their plight. The facilities in these hostels require timely repairs, which are often not done by the property owner concerned. It is imperative to construct hostels on government land, as this would help save the lakhs spent in paying rent to property owners, and these buildings would also be infrastructural assets for generations of students. One of the tribal hostels, whose students often complain of lack of basic amenities, is in Manjri. Its residents say that even the lights and taps in their bathrooms don’t work. In fact, residents of the tribal girls’ hostel in Hadapsar had gone on a hunger strike recently to draw attention to their grievances. Advertising Sanjay Meena, additional tribal commissioner of Thane, under whose jurisdiction the ITDP Ghodegaon is, says government rules do not permit spending on rented properties. “The property owner is required to carry out these repairs,” he said. A tribal department official said property owners often refused to undertake these repairs as they knew that the department had few options to shift the hostels to a new location. In a bid to fix the problem, said Meena, “we are working on ways to allow wardens to undertake minor repair works if the property owner does not heed their requests, and deduct the amount from the monthly rent”. He said there were some issues in communication earlier, as the responsibility of carrying out civil works in ITDP Ghodegaon was with the Public Works Department of Sangamner in Ahmednagar district. But these issues had been resolved, he said. Pointing out that the “Pune ITDP has three land parcels of its own but they need to be developed,” the senior official said he was hopeful that construction of hostels on government land would start by next year. Student leader Madan Pathave, who has been living in a tribal hostel since 2013, however, said all such hostels should be located on government land.

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