Maharastra blames Panvel hostel for making tribal students vacate

A day after more than 100 tribal students residing at a Panvel hostel were made to vacate after the Maharashtra government failed to pay hostel dues, the state government blamed hostel authorities, saying that it was not intimated that outstanding dues had to be paid before March 30.

A day after more than 100 tribal students residing at a Panvel hostel were made to vacate after the Maharashtra government failed to pay hostel dues, the state government blamed hostel authorities, saying that it was not intimated that outstanding dues had to be paid before March 30.

"The hostel should have reported the matter to the Maharashtra government about the total amount which was due to it before March 30. Since it was not done, no payment was made. The government will pay the outstanding dues, but that cannot happen before June," an official from the Maharashtra state tribal development department told PTI.

When asked about the fate of tribal students who have been made to vacate the hostel, the official said that they have been accommodated in a government hostel in Pen, where they would reside until the state government cleared the dues payable to the hostel.

Tribal students of the Padgha Adivashi Boys' Hostel in Panvel, rented by the Maharashtra government, made the tribal students to vacate and kept their belongings outside its premises, after the government allegedly failed to pay the landlord his dues for more than a year.

The hostel has a capacity to lodge 192 students.