State not to shut down any welfare hostels: CM

HYDERABAD: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday assured the BC welfare organisation that the state government will not shut down any social welfare hostels. He said that the government will merge twothree hostels to upgrade them into integrated hostels to give better facilities to students.He was responding to a representation made by various BC welfare organisations led by the State BC Welfare Association president R Krishnaiah demanding the government improve facilities in these hostels.Several BC welfare organisations on Monday called upon the chief minister expressing concern over the announcement made by the social welfare minister P Satyanarayana that the government will close all social welfare hostels with less than 100 students and merge them with other hostels.In all, about 9 lakh students are residing in 2,230 SC welfare hostels, 1,428 BC welfare hostels and 1,100 tribal welfare hostels apart from 617 residential schools.The BC welfare associations stated that closing down these hostels would cause problems for students.Meanwhile, Krishnaiah also urged the chief minister to ensure that tuition fee and other fees are not collected from students during counselling for admission into engineering colleges. Krishnaiah pointed out that students from minority categories who produce income certificate with annual income of `1 lakh were not mandated to pay tuition fee and other special fee during admission.