At the Yugantar hostel, filthy sheds were being used as toilets, the minister found.
Over the last 10 years, 793 tribal students have died in government-aided residential schools for tribal students - the state government recently admitted in a written reply to the assembly today. The government has ordered a probe, asking the Tata Institute of Social Sciences to study the reasons and submit a report.
A visit to three residential hostels run for Dalit students by state Minister for Social Justice, Rajkumar Badole, meanwhile, laid bare the appalling conditions there.
This weekend, the minister - a former civil engineer who left a lucrative government job to join politics - visited the hostels in and around Nagpur. And what he saw left him aghast. "This is horrible. It is as if these children are living in jails," he told NDTV.
At the Yugantar hostel, he saw filthy sheds being used as toilets. The dormitories were small and dark - there were no beds. The kitchen was dark and unclean. Sacks of food grain lay on the wet floor. There was no laundry system in place. The students walked around in dirty clothes, looking rather lost.
His efforts to get the students to talks did not meet with much success. One of the children candidly remarked that the hostel authorities have instructed them not to talk too much.
Some of them even tried to cover up the inadequacies of their hostel. Going by the kitchen, it was obvious that nothing had been cooked. But the students insisted that they had eaten, said the minister.
At Sant Ravidas Chhatraavaas, even the basic facilities like beds, blankets, minimum lighting and proper ventilation were missing. "How are we going to create the India of Dr Ambedkar's dreams? It would take years and years," the minister told NDTV.
Even the newly-built Maagaasvargiya Mulaanche Navnirmit Shaaskiya Vastigruha, the conditions were not much better. To begin with, the minister found that figures were fudged: Far fewer students were present than the professed strength.
"Despite the vacancies, students from villages were being turned away," he said.
But despite the space, the facilities of the hostel were far from satisfactory, he said. The electronic equipment supplied by the government, like CCTV camera units, solar lamps and biometric machines, were gathering dust. There was no room for a library.
"The state spends thousands of crores to run these hostels. But deep-rooted corruption and mismanagement defeats the purpose," said Mr Badole, a 52-year-old second term legislator from Vidarbha.
Asked whether he was blaming the erstwhile Cong-NCP government, he said, "We shall have to be more transparent and straightforward while using government funds. The funds are for these children."