The State Government on Thursday decided to complete construction of 1000 hostels for tribal students by the end of 2013.
This was decided at a high-level meeting presided by the Chief Minister at the Secretariat here. Official sources said while construction has already started for 640 hostels, tender process is in different stages for the rest. Similarly, 500 more hostels would be constructed for the scheduled caste students during the year.Official sources said `20 crore will be spent in the construction of two hostels for tribal students in Pokhariput and Kalinga Vihar of the Capital city to provide facilities for them to prepare for entrance examinations.Naveen asked officials to expedite the construction of these hostels.
A target has been set to construct five such hostels in Bhubaneswar. Hostels for tribal students will also be constructed in Rourkela and Berhampur. Chief Minister had reviewed implementation of different schemes for benefit of tribals at a high level meeting here on Saturday.
The meeting also discussed appointment of women wardens in hostels meant for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribe girl students. At present there are 4,696 hostels for tribal students in which 3.96 boys and 2.21 lakh girls are residing.
Construction of 400 hostels having a capacity of 40,000 college students has also started. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development Minister Lal Bihari Himirika, Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra and senior officials attended the meeting.