Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Banjara hostel in a shambles

Special Correspondent

Dispute between Government and samaj over land is in court

NEGLECTED: A view of the Banjara Samaj Hostel in Gulbarga.

GULBARGA: The hostel constructed by the Banjara Samaj to help children of the community to pursue higher education in Gulbarga city is in a shambles today because of the legal dispute over the claims of the property between the Banjara Samaj and the Government.

The hostel, consisting of several rooms, kitchen, halls in the Aiwan-e-Shahi area, which once was full of students, has now become a home for anti-social elements and the abode of pigs and stray dogs.

According to the Banjara Samaj leaders, the land measuring 4.8 acres, now worth several crores, was granted to the community for welfare activities in 1950 by the then undivided Hyderabad State Government and the Samaj leaders pooled funds required to construct the hostel.

The official records available show that the foundation stone for the hostel building was laid by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra V.P. Naik and the then Governor of Mysore State Dharma Veera inaugurated the hostel building in 1971.

Trouble for the Banjara Samaj-run hostel began in the late 1990s when the Land Survey Department concluded that the land on which the hostel run by the Banjara Samaj belonged to the Government. Based on the survey findings, the district administration then issued notices to the Samaj to vacate the building as it had been constructed illegally on a government land.

The Samaj then filed a case in the local court challenging the Government Order reclaiming the land while pointing out that the land had been allotted to the Banjara Samaj in 1950 by the then Deputy Collector of Gulbarga as per a decision taken by the then Hyderabad State Government before the reorganisation of States in 1956 and the merger of Gulbarga and other Kannada-speaking areas with the then Mysore State.

Meanwhile, the Banjara Samaj also stopped admitting students in the hostel because of the case and also the prevailing uncertainty over the ownership of the land. In the wake of continued neglect of the hostel building for the past more than six years, the building is in a dilapidated state with all its doors damaged. The place is being used by anti-social elements. It is also a favourite haunt for stray pigs and dogs.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

`Heliothis' likely to affect red gram crop in Gulbarga
Banjara hostel in a shambles
Action sought against Belgaum Mayor

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu