The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Plan to use local funds for fire-proof roofing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 24, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Plan to use local funds for fire-proof roofing

By K. Ramachandran

CHENNAI, JULY 23. Nearly one-third of the approved schools have removed thatched sheds on their own, well before the July 30 deadline fixed by the Chief Minister, following the July 16 Kumbakonam school fire tragedy.

Meanwhile, School Education department officials are working out schemes to involve the urban and rural local self governments for providing fire-proof roofing material, using local body funds, official sources said here today. "We are hopeful of achieving 100 per cent compliance with the directive for removing all thatched roofs well in time," a senior administrator said.

About 1,600 schools, out of an estimated 6,200 with thatched roofs, have sent to Education department officials their compliance reports. On the materials to be used for re-roofing, many schools were looking at tiles or micro concrete material.

The Education department is also coordinating with the Directorate of Rural Development for using the panchayat union general funds for roofing work and improving school buildings. "We are also working with the UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), already involved in training schools in improving toilet and sanitary conditions, to improve the infrastructure," the official added.

It is a three-step process — to identify schools with thatched roofs, giving them notice and then removing and replacing the roof. "But owing to the conditions forced on them by the Kumbakonam fire, all these are happening simultaneously and schools are complying on their own."

In smaller urban areas, the municipal schools are being funded from general municipal funds, but, "It is in the congested urban areas, where the problem needs to be addressed better and this is where parent-teacher associations can play an active role," an official said.

New appointments

Asked about the vacancy position among field-level officers which was affecting inspection work and compliance of norms, Government sources note that the appointment panels had cleared about a dozen names for promotion as Chief Educational Officers. However, the sources contend that it was only a coincidence that the appointments were being made in the present situation. The process was on for sometime. Amidst the austerity measures being followed across departments, these appointments too needed to be cleared by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms department based on requirements of the administration.

Loan for renovation

REPCO Bank, a Union Government enterprise, has launched a scheme for renovation of school buildings with a view to preventing recurrence of Kumbakonam-type tragedies.

Private schools, both aided and unaided, are eligible to avail themselves of the loan. However, the institution should have been approved by the Tamil Nadu Government. The schools could avail themselves of the loan for conversion of thatched roof into tiled/asbestos/concrete roofing.

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