Balimela: The decision to shift Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) to its permanent campus at Balimela from Malkangiri has created uncertainty in the minds of students and their parents as the construction of school building is yet to be completed.
According to reports, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had set up of the JNV at Malkangiri in 2010. As many as 40 students had also taken admission at the school and were taught in a temporary classroom, adjacent to the Government Science Junior College in Malkangiri.
Later, a plot of land for the JNV’s permanent campus was earmarked near Dragline under Balimela NAC. The construction work also started after tender was called for the same.
However, the building is yet to be completed though the deadline for its completion is over long ago. As a result, the school can’t be shifted to its permanent campus.
The school students have to suffer a lot as they are not getting adequate facilities for their daily academic and non-academic activities. Similarly, lack of infrastructure in the school has also affected the students as they don’t have a playground in the current campus.
On the other hand, principal as well as teachers of JNV had asked the contractor to complete the construction work as soon as possible, but the contractor hadn’t paid attention to them.
Earlier, the parent-teacher committee had visited the construction site and reviewed the work progress January 13. During the visit, the committee had noticed that the road connecting to the school building is yet to be constructed. If it is not done, it will create problems for the students and the hostel inmates during the rainy season.
Apart from this, an abandoned pond in front of the boys’ hostel of the school is posing a serious risk to the students. When the principal asked the contractor to fill up the pond, he has reportedly refused to do it.
The members of the committee have also alerted the contractor and departmental engineer, who were present at the site regarding the campus issues.
According to the contractor, more than Rs 4 crore of the sanctioned money has been spent on the construction of the project and he is no more able to bear the rest.
On the other hand, the parents have demanded the district collector to look into the matter and take steps for starting of classes at the campus from the ensuing season.
PNN
