Tadepalli, Jan 3: Former minister Vidadala Rajini on Friday accused the coalition government led by Chandrababu Naidu of completely destroying the welfare hostel system in the state, leading to the deaths of 46 students from BC, SC and ST hostels in the last 18 months. She said these were not accidental deaths but “government-caused deaths” due to criminal neglect.
Speaking to the media at the YSR Congress Party central office in Tadepalli, Rajini said the government had failed to provide even basic facilities such as safe drinking water, hygienic food and proper sanitation in welfare hostels. She stated that food and water contamination had become routine, pushing children into repeated illness and, in many cases, death.
Rajini said the coalition government had ignored the guidelines of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and even High Court directions related to hostel safety. She recalled that during the tenure of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Government Order No. 46 had brought strict monitoring, inter-departmental coordination and clear accountability in hostel management. She alleged that the present government scrapped the GO out of political hostility, directly harming poor students.
Citing multiple incidents across Tirupati, Krishna, Nandyal, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Annamayya and Sathya Sai districts, Rajini said mass illnesses and food-related incidents had become frequent, exposing total administrative failure. She said over 6.5 lakh students studying in 3,783 welfare hostels were being abandoned by the state.
The former minister also pointed to the collapse of coordination between health, medical and welfare departments, resulting in delayed treatment, lack of supervision and unsafe living conditions. She contrasted this with the previous administration’s Nadu–Nedu reforms, nutritious diet plans and regular inspections, and said the coalition government had pushed welfare hostels into an alarming and inhuman state.
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