Hostels turn into love stations

Hanamkonda: Past six o’clock, the lanes and criss-crossed alleys of Lashkar Singaram in Hanamkonda that let lovers cosying up is in its truest sense are called as a lovers’ paradise. It’s not exaggeration to say that every second dwelling in this part of the city is a private hostel.

Hanamkonda being an educational hub and centre for competitive exam preparation is a most sought-after destination for the students and unemployed youth.

This has led to mushrooming of hostels (boys/girls) a lucrative business in the city, especially in the vicinity of Kishanpura and Naim Nagar areas. According to a conservative estimate, there are nearly 200 private hostels in the city.

The gruesome incident that shook the city on Wednesday in which a girl student, Topucherla Ravali, was set on fire just outside her hostel by a youth, Pendyala Sai Anvesh, said to be her childhood friend and lover, indicates that how freedom is being misused by the youth, pushing their lives to the edge of danger in the absence of proactive monitoring by their parents.

The residents say, “The streets have become hotspots for lovers, who no more have scant respect for decency. Today’s incident is the tip of the iceberg. Come and see at the fall of dusk, the youth is all over cosying up with each other. With no closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras around hostels, the streets have become havens for the lovers.”

Although the parents live elsewhere, the onus is on them to keep an eye on the movements of their wards, instead of ruing after any untoward incident, the locals said.

On the other hand, neither the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) nor the Food Safety Department has any clue about the number of hostels in the city.

Barring one or two, none of the hostel has trade license and authorisation from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). It may be noted here that when a building is rented out or converted into a hostel, it comes under commercial usage for which a trade licence is must.
The GWMC and the Food Safety Department did not have an idea of how many such unregistered hostels operate in the region.

Speaking to The Hans India, the Gazetted Food Inspector & Food Safety Designated Officer A Rajender Nath said: “The department is facing a severe staff crunch and it’s difficult to monitor the mushrooming of hostels.”

The Medical Health Officer of the GWMC said: “Those, who wanted to operate hostels, need to get a clearance certificate from the Gazetted Food Inspector & Food Safety Designated Officer to get trade license. There are just about 15 registered hostels in the city and rest are carrying their operations illegally.”

Commissioner of Police V Ravinder said that they had advised hostel managements to install CCTV cameras besides maintaining a logbook of inmates. If they face any problem, the girls need to take the assistance of SHE teams. which have been actively roaming all over the city, he added.