BHUBANESWAR: As reports of indecent behaviour towards girl students staying in different hostels and sevashrams increased, the State Government has decided to speed up the process for the appointment of matrons to look after the inmates.

The decision to appoint matrons and post at least one lady teacher in every hostel was announced by Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Development Minister Lalbihari Himirika in the Assembly in December last year. Though nearly one year has elapsed since the announcement, not a single appointment has been made so far.
The State Government had announced that 4,000 matrons will be appointed to be posted in hostels for girls and sevashrams across the State. But the number of posts has been brought down to 3,000.

Official sources said the State Government had received allegations of indecent behaviour towards at least 13 girl students staying in different hostels and sevashrams in the last three years. Direction was issued to deploy female cooks, attendants and superintendents in all residential schools and sevashrams run by the Department.

Himirika said the Department had initiated the process for appointment of the matrons. But recruitment could not be started as eligible candidates were not found, he said and added that fresh advertisement will be issued soon in this regard.  

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday reviewed the progress of implementation of different schemes by the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Development Department. A decision was taken to put in place a robust school and hostel monitoring system. He asked the Department to start recruitment of matrons as early as possible.

Construction of hostels for tribal girl students has also lagged behind. Out of the construction work started for 3,393 hostels, work for 1,792 hostels has been completed and 1,601 is in progress. Hostels for tribal students at Pokhariput and Kalinga Vihar in Bhubaneswar have also been completed. Tribals students have already been admitted to hostels at Berhampur and Rourkela. Chief Secretary GC Pati, Development Commissioner AP Padhi and senior officials were present during the meeting.
Source : NIE