Hostels sans hygiene, basic facilities

KOCHI: The City Express campaign on women’s hostels operating in the city without basic facilities and violating the norms, is finally bearing fruits. The corporation officials who conducted raids on a couple of hostels in the city found that some hostels lacked basic hygiene facilities.  “In some hostels we found that the bathrooms and the kitchens are not up to the mark,” they said. In view of the increasing incidents of fever across the district, these issues would be taken up seriously. The raids were carried out by a team led by health inspectors V Sasikumar and K S Sobhana Kumari. The team of officials also included second grade health inspectors Jessy Mathew, P Manmadhan and V K Dinesh, along with junior health inspector C A Omana. The corporation officials also carried out raids on some restaurants in the city. There were widespread complaints that even after many incidents of viral fever, the corporation officials have not been carrying out raids at women’s hostels.  Being the business capital of Kerala, there are thousands of people from neighbouring districts who come to Kochi and stay in hostels. It is in this backdrop that the City Express carried a detailed campaign on different aspects of the hostels here. Issues like exploitation in some hostels in Kochi, hostels operating without norms and how the system of paying-guest accommodation is being misused, have been reported in these columns earlier.