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| 'Use of inferior construction material leads to school building collapse' | | | Early Times Report
RAJOURI, May 12 : A preliminary investigation by the Education department has established that a school building which was constructed in 2011 and had collapsed in 2013, was raised by using inferior construction material by the contractor for monetary gains. After several representations to Deputy Commissioner and Chief Education Officer (CEO) by the people of the area against the contractor and to prove the reasons behind the collapse of the building, a three member team headed by deputy CEO was constituted in the month of April to investigation the matter Team members team headed by Deputy Chief Education Officer (CEO) Rajouri during physical verification of the material used in the construction work have said that sub standard material was used by the contractor in the construction of primary school building. Ch Lal Hussain, CEO said that Ravinder Singh, deputy CEO has informed him on phone that during physical investigation it has been established that the building collapsed due to sub standard material and not due to land sliding caused due to heavy rains in the months of July-August,2013 as was claimed by the contractor.
"The investigating team has also collected samples of the construction material which will be sent to forensic laboratory for testing and if found sub standard suitable action under law will be initiated against those who were involved in the construction of the building" said CEO.
He added that soon the team will submit his report to him and accordingly higher authorities will be informed for necessary action in this matter. After the school building collapsed the people of the area had raised fingers on the material used in the construction and following mounting pressure from the public CEO, Rajouri had constituted a three member team including Surinder Sharma and Ashok Kumar Sharma, principals of higher secondary schools at Triyath and Chingus and headed by deputy CEO. Primary school building was constructed at Halal village by the education department under Sarav Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the year 2011 and was handed over to the school authorities in 2012.
The building had three rooms and a varandha and at the time of handing over the kitchen and toilet blocks were without roof and even then the payment was released as was alleged by Abdul Khaliq, sarpanch of the village. Khaliq and others during representation had informed the Deputy Commissioner and CEO that during torrential rains in the months of July-August,2013 the building had collapsed at about midnight. "Had the building collapsed during working hours there would have been deaths of many students as the material used in the construction of the building was very inferior" said Khailq.
He further said that immediately after the damage to the building the matter was brought in the notice of Zonal Education Officer at Moghla but the department had failed to initiate any action. Since the collapse of the building the school is being run in a rented room in the vicinity of the school and more than 50 students finding it very difficult to study in their classes. The construction of the building was started in 2009 under SSA and was constructed reportedly by a teacher identified as Shamsher Singh. It was completed in 2011 and collapsed in 2013. In the first week of April village Panchyat in a resolution had informed the Chief Education Officer (CEO) that Kashmir Singh local resident has offered his land free of cost for the construction of new building about 500meters from existing building. In the month of April , when contacted the CEO he had said that his office has not received any such resolution.
"Land sliding followed by torrential rains was the reason behind damage to the building. The report of loss and the money required for repairing was submitted in the office of District Development Commissioner (DDC) but till date today no response was received in this connection" had said CEO. He had admitted that the school building has fully collapsed and it was not feasible to construct the new building as in the initial report the money was demanded only for the repairing of the building. |
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