Metro rail's class act

Metro rail's class act

A school and a college in Rajajinagar have been put on 10 days notice to vacate their premises so that work on the metro rail project can commence. The two institutions have not been given an alternative site nor have they received the remuneration package

By Praveen Kumar
Posted On Sunday, October 05, 2008

This is a classic story of the downside of progress. Not to mention bureaucratic bungling, which accentuates the problem. Namma Metro, the long cherished dream of Bangaloreans, surely comes with a price.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has served a notice on two educational institutions located on Mahakavi Kuvempu Road in Rajajinagar to vacate their premises during the Dasara holidays to facilitate land acquisition for the project. The fate of more than 2,500 students now hangs in the balance.

For the school authorities and students, this notice came like a bolt from the blue on October 1, when the school had already shut for the dasara holidays. There has been no time to make alternative arrangements. As a result, the school’s reopening will have to be indefinitely postponed or classes will have to be held in some large playground!

These institutions are operating from rented buildings and the owners of these buildings have already taken compensation from the government. They had not informed the school authorities on when to vacate. The authorities had thought of an April deadline and now they don’t know what to do and where to go.

BOLT FROM THE BLUE

Mariyappa First Grade College and 5 H English High School cater to mostly lower middle class families. According to the notice received by the managements on October 1, the BMRCL has stated that the said property where the institutions are housed is being acquired for the North Corridor of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project and the Utility Shifting activities will commence shortly in the area which will affect educational activities.

The BMRCL has therefore requested the management to vacate the institution premises during the Dasara holidays or at the earliest. Details of BMRCL’s rehabilitation package are also enclosed with the notice.

K B Lokesh, Principal of the Mariyappa First Grade college told Bangalore Mirror that the management is shell-shocked due to the BMRCL’s notice. “Where should the students go and the semester exams is around the corner. The management was aware that the said property where the college is housed is being acquired by BMRCL. The previous managing director of BMRCL, V Madhu, had given us time till April 2009 for vacating and shifting the college. He also assured us that the rehabilitation package would be issued in one go to facilitate the construction activities in an alternative land provided by BMRCL,” he said.

LEFT IN THE LURCH

But the alternative land as assured by BMRCL is yet to be finalised and the rehabilitation package as requested by the management has not been released. The present managing director of BMRCL N Sivasailam is unaware of any assurances made by his predecessor and has sent the notice without even thinking about the students and the management’s plight, Lokesh added.

Deepa Rajan, Secretary of the Five H English School echoed the same thought. “The 35-year-old institution is catering to the educational needs of several middle class families. The management has found out an alternative plot near Yeshwanthapura for setting up the new building for the school. But the BMRCL which had assured us of releasing the rehabilitation package in one go has not yet released it to facilitate our construction activities. We were also given time till April, 2009 so that the present academic year will not be affected in the middle. Despite assurances the BMRCL has sent the notice,” she said.

The educational department will not allow us to shift the school in the middle of the academic year, she added. The government should take up our cause and intervene to allow the functioning of both the institutions in the same buildings till the completion of the present academic year, the management said.