PUNE: The Sainik Welfare Department has started a structural audit of its 48 hostel buildings across the state that were unused for the last two years.
Close to 4,000 school and college-going students from families of retired and serving military persons stay in these hostels. Some are old structures in need of repairs and do not have adequate amenities for occupants.
Hostels in Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Raigad and Ratnagiri have been audited and several shortcomings have come to the fore during this exercise. A team of officials from the department visited facilities last week.
Lt Col RR Jadhav (retd), deputy director of the department, told TOI, “We had to close the hostels due to the pandemic. Since we have planned to reopen them for the upcoming academic year, we need to see the current condition of these facilities so that we can upgrade them as per the requirement.”
“Some of the hostels in Konkan are in a poor state with old facilities. We will have to carry out civil works to make these hostels liveable. Students from remote areas of the Konkan usually stay here,” he added.
Students with civil backgrounds also get admission to these hostels if there are not many wards of military personnel.
They pay Rs2,200 per month for accommodation and mess facilities.
“However, this amount will be revised considering the average expense for each student is Rs4,000 per month. In this case, the department needs to revise the fee structure to bear the expenses,” a senior official from the department said.
These hostels for girls and boys in Pune are usually occupied to full capacity, the officials added.
Another official from the department said the hostels do not have modern facilities like Wi-Fi, computer and good seating arrangements for study, and officials need to consider these aspects.
