Waseem Ahmad
Srinagar, May 20: Presenting the grim picture of Education sector in the State, Government Middle School at Gangbugh area in the outskirts of Srinagar is functioning from a rented accommodation while construction of building for the school has been left mid way.
According to locals of the area, the construction of the school building was started in 2005 with an allocation of Rs 4 lakhs but the work was left mid way with the building open from all sides without any door or windows attached.
“About 13 years have passed since the construction of the school building was started but the building is still incomplete and has been left unattended since then. We approached various officials of the Education Department regarding this issue but they are least bothered about its completion,” Bashir Ahmad, a local said.
The locals alleged that the Education Department released the whole amount which was allocated for the construction of the building in favor of the contractor but the building was never completed.
They also said that apart from the original allocated amount, the then MLA, Nasir Aslam Wani also provided Rs 5 lakhs for the building from his Constituency Development Fund (CDF) but that amount was also not utilized.
A source in the department said the school is operating from a rented accommodation with only three classrooms for 35 students and the department has posted 9 teachers including 6 General Line Teachers, one ReT, two RRTs and one head of the institution.
“The school is functioning in a pathetic condition. There is no compound in the school and the students are always being choked like cattle’s inside the class rooms. The worst part is that there is no privacy for girl students and female teachers as they have to share the only toilet inside the building with other non local tenants”, he said.
An official of the Education Department said that they had already registered an FIR against the concerned contractor who left the work mid way and the case is in the Court now.
He said the construction of the building was earlier executed by Budgam district as the school was under their jurisdiction up to 2008. However, it was later shifted to Batamaloo Education Zone of Srinagar district and this was also one of the reasons which halted the construction work of the building.
He said the issue also has been already discussed with the higher authorities and they came to the conclusion that the site was not feasible for the construction of the building as it is being constructed in a low lying area. “We have taken an initiative that the school building will be constructed at another place of the area and we are waiting for the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the court. The construction work will be started soon after the case is solved,” he said.
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