At Hadapsar hostel: Over 40 tribal students left in the lurch as food contractor decamps with Rs 60,000

Earlier this year, the Tribal Development Department had decided to bring about a major policy change in the over 300 hostels run by it across the state. Instead of appointing contractors to run the mess in the hostel, the department had decided to directly transfer a certain amount of money as food allowance to the student’s bank account.

Based on Right To Information (RTI) documents, The Indian Express had reported that the state government’s move was prompted by numerous complaints from students about the quality of food served to them and the failure of hostel authorities to curb the problem of unauthorised or ‘parasite’ hostel residents.

However, the move had been opposed by a large number of students and the department had suggested several alternative plans. Students pooling in their resources and appointing a common contractor was one of them.

Nearly 100 students stay at the Hadapsar hostel and most of them get their food from an outside mess.  “Repeated calls to the contractor went unanswered and the hostel warden had no idea about it… most of the tribal students come from families below the poverty line. This incident is stressful for us,” said Dudule. The students are currently eating out but this has put a strain on their tight budgets.

Earlier this year, students who were protesting against the move had taken out a long march to Nashik to highlight their grievances. The march was cut short near Nashik by the police in view of the “law and order” threat it posed.

Student leader Madan Pathave, who had led the march, said they had been apprehensive about situations such as the one facing students at the Hadapsar hostel. “If this can happen in a city like Pune, it is anyone’s guess as to what’s happening in smaller towns,” he said.

The students are planning to file a police complaint against the contractor and others. Ayush Prasad, project officer at the Integrated Tribal Development Project in Ghodegaon, said they had just been apprised of the matter. “We are looking into it,” he said.