Karnataka Polytechnic in city hostel still incomplete, student woes unending

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Aug 8,2017:For for a while now a final year diploma student hailing from Hassan at the Government Karnataka Polytechnic in the city is in a paying guest (PG) accommodation in Bejai. He is finding it hard to pay Rs. 5,000 per month towards boarding and lodging.

The condition of his classmates is also similar, forced to stay in a paying guest accommodations at high cost and risk. More than  60 students from the polytechnic are desperately waiting for the completion of the renovation work on one of the two old hostels.

The work, which started last year, is yet to be completed and this has forced the boys to look for paying guest accommodations out side. One hostel block is under renovation and the other closed, boys at the polytechnic do not have hostel facility , though their classes commenced on July 3.  However, female  students have hostel facility and are safe.

These 60 boys are among the 120 who availed themselves of hostel facility last year. The college authorities informed them of the delay in allotment this year when the students returned to college on July 3 after their annual vacation.

There are students hailing from Belagavi, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Mysuru and Honnavar who faced difficulty in getting a PG accommodation.

While promising early completion of the renovation work, college principal Babu Devadiga told The Hindu that the government has spent Rs. 90 lakh to renovate one of the two old hostel blocks. “The plumbing and electrical works are being done. We hope to finish it by this month-end,” he said.

A staff of the college said that the renovated hostel also needs two cooks and a watchman for which there are no grants. “We have to either bear this expense ourselves or ask students to pay,” he said. 

Mangaluru City South MLA J.R. Lobo said that he would shortly visit the polytechnic and resolve the issue of delayed renovation work, though the polytechnic is not under his Assembly constituency. “If it is possible  to get additional funds, I hope to get it and end the problems of the students,” he says.