People protest govt negligence

Cherial (Siddipet): Last week, when Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had come to lay foundation stones for the District Collectorate, Police Commissionerate and Medical College buildings in Siddipet, people of Veerannapet which is just a few km away from Cherial mandal headquarters blocked the Siddipet-Janagam road demanding the State government to complete construction of the Zilla Parishad school building in their village, the construction of which was started more than a decade ago during the Congress government, but was later left incomplete and was abandoned by the contractor who claimed exhaustion of funds.

The Zilla Parishad High School building, which was constructed more than 50 years ago, is currently in dilapidated condition and last week during the rains, a part of the planked area of the school collapsed. At least four rooms of the high school and the office have become dilapidated with water seeping through the roof and cracks in the walls in many places.

Mandal Parishad Primary School of the village is also housed on the same campus and the old building of that school is not any better. A few of rooms were constructed same years ago but even that wasn’t enough to accommodate all the children. Class V students are being made to sit in the lobby because there is no room in the school to accommodate them.

Perhaps this was the reason why a decision to construct an integrated school in an open land in front of the school was taken by the then Congress government. The idea was to construct a school which would become a model for government educational institutions in Telangana.

Two acres of land was purchased in the village and foundation and slab was raised. But the contractor deserted the work after he fell short of funds to complete the construction. It has been more than 10 years now and classes for the high school students are being conducted in the incomplete structure without any benches.

There are around 300 students studying in the old campus and many children have already shifted to Pragathi Vidya Niketan, a school which is located on the highway, just two km away from the village.

“We are doing our best to support the government’s efforts to retain children in government schools, but we have no answers when parents are worried about the safety of their wards, as the old school structures are on the verge of collapse.

Despite our repeated efforts to bring the issue to the administration, the construction of the school building is still lying incomplete,” Arella Suvarna, Ward member who lives right across the school told The Hans India.

Cherial is the new mandal which was earlier in Warangal district, now merged with Siddipet district after districts’ reorganisation last year. Last week, during the CM’s visit, Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao had requested the CM for additional funds for the development of the recently merged mandals like Husnabad, Cherial and Maddur. Chief Minister also reacted positively to the request.

The people of Veerannapet are now hoping the new integrated school which was left incomplete during the Congress' regime would at least be completed during TRS regime, that too as soon as possible.

By Vivek Bhoomi