Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Thatching of school sheds yet to be completed

By N.J. Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 5. Even after the commencement of the new academic year, thatching of classrooms in the 80 schools being run by the District Panchayat has not yet been completed. The delay in thatching the sheds is likely to disrupt the functioning of classes once the monsoon intensifies. The work was delayed due to the differences of opinion between the ruling LDF and the UDF members of the District Panchayat, it is learnt.

Of the 80 schools that were handed over to the District Panchayat following the decentralisation of powers, some schools have seven sheds, with one shed housing four classrooms. The education standing committee is being headed by the UDF. According to the standing committee chairman, S.Anil Kumar, the decision was deliberately delayed by the LDF to tarnish the image of the UDF. A meeting of the headmasters and assistant engineers was summoned during the vacation to take a list of the school buildings which need immediate maintenance.

After preparing the list, the assistant engineers were directed to prepare the estimate. They were further directed to give the estimate to the 12 assistant executive engineers in the panchayat to further check the estimate to avoid excess payments. The engineers completed the formalities and handed over the estimate to the panchayat, Mr.Anil Kumar said.

On getting the estimate approved by the engineers, the education standing committee met on May 19 and recommended to entrust the work to the PTA committees. This should be ratified by the general committee of the panchayat.

As per the Panchayati raj rules, the committee should do the work with the headmaster as convenor and the president as chairman. In those schools which do not have the committees, the work should be tendered. Almost all schools have PTA committees and they were ready to take up the work too, Mr.Anil Kumar said.

Mr.Anil Kumar said that there had been no response to the repeated request to summon the general committee meeting and this was a deliberate attempt to place the onus for the delay on the committee headed by him. During the previous years, all these procedures had been done on time and the work was completed well before the reopening of the schools. As the State Government has given Rs.1.5 crores to the panchayat, there was no paucity of funds too, he said.

When contacted, the president, Sasikala Sivasankar, said the allegations were baseless. The panchayat has taken timely action to thatch the sheds and the work will be completed within the next three days. The primary responsibility of the education standing committee is to supervise the academic affairs and monitor the noon-meal scheme. Maintenance of buildings is done by the PWD standing committee, she said.

Though the LDF has a majority in the general committee, allocation of funds for developmental works and new projects are being done in a dispassionate manner and there was no attempt to delay the work to taint the image of the UDF members, she said.

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