When rafters of a school building in Bambolim collapsed and damaged benches and furniture in the classroom over a week ago, one would have expected authorities to have acted swiftly to repair the damage for the safety of the students.
It now appears that even the discontented roar of St Andre MLA Vishnu Surya Wagh seems to have had little effect on education authorities.
Highlighting the apathy of the education department, Wagh said the rafters at the Govt Primary School at Bambolim had collapsed over a week ago, but accused department officials of not undertaking repairs of the classroom or of the weak school roof.
Wagh informed that the rafters had collapsed and had damaged benches and furniture in the classroom. “The teachers came to know about the incident only the next morning and they immediately informed the education department,” said Wagh.
“The incident highlights that the roof of the school, which was built way back in 1956, is weak and is likely to cause more collapse if it is not repaired immediately. There is danger to the life of the students who are currently studying in the adjacent rooms,” he informed.
A teacher, Sukanti Redkar, informed that she had apprised the ADEI about the incident. “The ADEI and GSIDC officials visited the school and took photographs, but since then nothing has happened,” she added.
“It was in June 2012 that the floor of the school was renovated but nobody was aware of the danger posed by the roof as it looked good from outside,” said Redkar. “Currently, there are 21 students studying in the school,” she informed.
Unhappy with authorities for having failed to repair the school room for over a week, Wagh has questioned the lethargic attitude of the education department officials and has threatened to lodge a complaint with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar over the issue.
“I am surprised that the school room has not yet been touched, even though the school teacher brought it to the notice of the education department officials the moment the issue came to light. This shows the lethargic attitude of the authorities. I will now be forced to complain to Parrikar.”
“Since the support of the roof has collapsed, there is every possibility that the remaining roof of the school rooms, where the students currently study, could also collapse,” Wagh said. “Authorities are playing with the lives of these students by delaying repairs of the roof.”
When contacted, local panch Vikram Faterpekar also expressed surprise over the delay in repairing the roof, even though the local MLA Wagh highlighted the issue. He further demanded that authorities should immediately repair the roof to prevent any untoward incident from turning tragic.
