Minister warns erring hostel wardens of pay cut

Prasad to discuss the issue during next cabinet meeting

If Revenue and District in-charge Minister V Srinivas Prasad sticks to his words, the officials attached to the Social Welfare department in the district may feel a pinch in their pockets. They are bound to suffer a cut in their monthly salaries, and also hikes.

Addressing the wardens after launching a campaign to bring in reforms in the hostels in the district, at Zilla Panchayat auditorium here, Prasad who lost his cool over the pathetic state of hostels in the district, warned of discussing the slash in salaries and hikes of such erring officials, during the next cabinet meeting.

Prasad advised ZP CEO P A Gopal to pull up the erring wardens by inspecting the hostels. “If need arises, lodge a criminal case against them and also take the matter to Lokayukta,” he said.

Venting his ire on the wardens present in the meeting, Prasad asked them to return to their home departments. “How can you serve stale food and also buy rotten vegetables?” he said.  
Referring to the condition of SC, ST hostels, especially Kasturba Gandhi Girls Hostel in Nanjangud, Prasad said he was disturbed by the plight of the hostel. “Had it been in China, you would have been shot. Here you take protection using politics and law,” said Prasad.

Prasad said, owing to poverty parents admit their children to hostels, with the government ensuring all the facilities for them. “However, in a contrasting situation, the students are found undernourished due to lack of adequate food,” he said.