Baliapal: Funds have been allotted for the construction of the Aadarsh English Medium School in this block of Balasore district three years back. But till date not even the foundation stone of the school has been laid. The reason being the land on which the school is to be built is under litigation and has not yet been transferred to the Rural Development (RD) department.
Initially a 10-acre land was allotted by the Baliapal tehsildar under Balarampur panchayat for the school. Tata Trust was handed the responsibility in 2018 to construct the school. But facing local resistance they exited the project.
Later construction was entrusted to the RD department. Floating a tender, it awarded the job to a contractor. However, a family alleged that a portion of the land on which the school is to be built belonged to it. The family moved the Odisha High Court thus stalling construction.
Local people said that there is another five-acre plot on which the school can easily come up. They alleged that instead of getting the construction work started, the administration is wasting time over petty issues.
Last October, president of the Baliapal Senior Citizen Forum, Narayan Prasad Sahu met the District Collector here and handed him a memorandum, requesting him to take steps for early completion of the project.
“The administration has failed to transfer the land to the RD department. There are funds to build the school, but sadly our children are being deprived from getting proper education. Unless steps are taken for construction to begin, we will resort to demonstration,” said Sahu.
When contacted, Baliapal Block Education Officer (BEO) said a letter has been sent to the Collector seeking his approval on the transfer of the land identified earlier. Once approved, the RD department will start work to build the school on it.
But again it is the same land which is under litigation. The villagers are failing to understand why is the administration so keen to acquire a plot over which a case has been filed. They said that an alternate plot has already been identified, yet the district administration is not keen to utilise it.
PNN