Karnataka - Bangalore   

1,000 hostels are without wardens

D. Sudhakar

BANGALORE: Severe shortage of manpower has forced the Social Welfare Department to make wardens take care of more than two hostels in several cases.

Almost 1,000 out of the 4,000 hostels run by the State Government for students belonging to Dalit and Backward Classes are functioning without full-time wardens or cooks. Although the department managed to tide over the shortage of cooks by outsourcing the job, the absence of wardens for many hostels has led to a situation in which existing wardens are entrusted with the additional charge of managing the show in two or three hostels.

“We can’t outsource the job of warden like we are doing in the case of cooks, as the job of the warden involves handling of cash and maintenance of accounts,” Minister for Social Welfare D. Sudhakar told The Hindu while admitting severe shortage of manpower in the department.

While more than 900 posts of wardens are vacant, the shortage of cooks is estimated to be around 3,500. According to rules, each hostel should mandatorily have a warden and assistant wardens depending on the strength of the inmates.

Similarly, three cooks should be deployed in each hostel with a strength of 50 inmates.

It is not just wardens, who are juggling jobs. Most other officials too are entrusted with additional responsibilities. For instance, a Taluk Social Welfare Officer in Bangalore held additional charge as District Social Welfare Officer for almost a year.

Principal Secretary to the Department of Social Welfare E. Venkataiah said the Government had already set in motion the process of recruiting wardens against the 900 vacancies. He attributed the large number of vacancies to the posts of wardens to the substantial increase in the number of hostels over the last couple of years.

“We hope to fill them in the next two or three months. We will have a strict screening test. We will recruit only qualified graduates for the posts of wardens. It will not be like earlier when even SSLC and PUC passed candidates were selected for the post,” he said.

Over three lakh students joined these hostels, which routinely come under flak for poor infrastructure and upkeep. “About 1,500 hostels are in rented buildings. It will not be possible to improve infrastructure in rented buildings. So, we are planning to acquire land for construction of our own hostels. Apart from identifying government land, the department has been allowed to purchase private land at double the guidance value”, he added.

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