Post News Network
Balasore, May 15: Even as people have been demanding second Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) in this district for a very long time, it has allegedly been given little attention by the authorities till date. When Centre announced the decision to set up this much sought-after institution in 2012, it generated a lot of hope but petered out soon when no concrete steps were taken by the administration.
According to sources, acquiring land for the school has been a major hurdle for this project. Earlier, the government had planned to start the school from a cyclone shelter before shifting it to its own campus.
District collector Sanatan Mallick, however, said he had no idea of using cyclone shelter for the KV.
KVS sources said the district administration has not yet handed over the land and issued no letter permitting the use of the cyclone shelter to run the KV temporarily. However, Mallick said 10 acre of land has been identified in Remuna area and the government has been intimated about it. As the land belongs to grazing land category, it needs to be converted first, he added.
KVs aim to provide quality education to children of Central government employees and other children too. To ensure quality education for children of people working in DRDA at Chandipur, the Centre set up first KV here in 1972. The school has classes up to XII with 1,847 students studying there at present.
With the increase in population, number of Central institutions and banks, a single KV is not enough for children of all Central government employees in the district. The need for second KV in the district was felt in 2005 and various outfits raised the demand for another school. Alumni association of KV had submitted a memorandum in this regard to then district collector, Governor, Union human resources development minister, Prime Minister and the President.
“A KV was opened in Balasore when its population was only four lakh and now it has increased to 25 lakh. Besides, several Central institutions and industrial units have come in the town and its outskirts. While over 2,000 applications are received by the school, only 120 students get admission, KV alumni association secretary Lava Pandey said.
Blaming administrative callousness for delay in starting second KV in the district, Pandey said, “After seven years of agitation, the government announced its decision to set up second KV in the district, but it has remained unrealised till date even as three years have passed since the announcement.”
As the demand for second KV became stronger, a delegation led by then deputy commissioner of Kendriya Vidyalay Sangathan (KVS), R Kalavati, visited Balasore in 2011. The delegation studied the need for another KV in the district and made a recommendation for it to the KVS. Following this, the Centre announced its decision to set up another KV.
Soon after the announcement, the district administration planned to initially run the school from a cyclone shelter near Barabati High School. Later it identified 8.5 acre of land for the school near Vigilance office at Samalpur.
Though KVS authorities required 10 acre of land for the school, yet they announced the start of second KV in 2012. But enrollment of students could not be started. The KV Alumni association submitted a memorandum to then Governor MC Bhandare during his visit to the district in 2013 in this regard. But nothing fruitful happened. The association has threatened to take to the streets if steps were not taken to start the KV by July 31 this year.
