Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama assured the Gujarat Assembly today that his department would build a new school in place of the one which was demolished by miscreants in Botad town of Saurashtra region on March 9.
During today's Assembly session, Congress MLA from Amreli Paresh Dhanani raised the issue of the government primary school, which was demolished by some people, as a "matter of urgent public importance" and sought answers from the education minister about steps taken by him to ensure that students' education is not hampered.
In his reply, Chudasama stated that the school building, comprising four classrooms and one office, which is owned by Hargovindbhai Sheth, was leased out to the Gujarat state government.
Since 1967, the building has been in possession of the Botad Municipality and a primary school has been functioning there since then.
According to the minister, 244 students of standard one to standard eight study here in two shifts, Chudasama said.
In 2008, the building's owner filed a civil suit in court to take back its possession.
"Though the matter is subjudice till today, we learned that the owner sold the property to some other person, who had razed the structure using a JCB machine on March 9. They demolished four out of five rooms of this school, leaving it unusable," Chudasama said.
Later, he assured that an alternative facility would be created for students within 24 hours.
"Our administration immediately swung into action and allotted rooms of a government-run kindergarten, which is nearly 500 metres away from that school within 24 hours. Thus, the education of these 244 students was not hampered due to this incident, since the school now functions from that premise," Chudasama told the House.
On the question of action taken against those involved in the demolition, Chudasama said that one person has been arrested.
"Based on our complaint filed with the local police, the key accused have been arrested and police is now searching for others. I want to assure the House that we will take directions from the court and build a new school in the same place to discourage the land mafia from trying to capture this land," Chudasama said.
