Jammu: A day after little Seerat Naaz's video surfaced on the internet complaining about the condition of the government high school in Lohai-Malhar, Jammu and Kashmir Principal Secretary Alok Kumar verified her claims saying the condition of the school, as narrated in the video is "not far from the truth".
"The contents of the video have been verified and found to be genuine. The condition of the school, as narrated in the video is not far from the truth and in fact, approximates the actual and real condition of the school. GHS, Lohai-Malhar has at present enrolment of 284 students and 12 teaching faculty as against the sanctioned strength of 18," read the official response from Alok Kumar.
Earlier on Friday, in a video now viral on Facebook, the little girl from Lohai-Malhar village in Kathua district of Jammu, voiced an adorable wish to Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- " Please Modi-ji, ek achhi si school banwa do na (Please Modi-ji, build a nice school for us)".
Jammu and Kashmir principal secretary said that as seen in the video, there is an old building block of 3 rooms, adjacent to which, there is a double storey 10 room incomplete building which houses classrooms from class 1 to 10th, having facilities of ICT Lab and solar panels as well.
"The construction work of the said incomplete building was taken up for execution in the year 2013-14, pursuant to the directions passed by the then Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, during his tour to Lohai Malhar, Kathua," it read.
"Funds to the tune of Rs 52.00 Lakhs (22.00 Lakhs by Planning & Development Department under RMSA and 30.00 Lakhs under State Sector) were released in 2014 & 2017 respectively, for the project. The structure of the building has been completed except finishing, flooring and electrification as per the letter of Executive Engineer, PWD, Basohli and there is a work done liability of 52.62 Lakhs. The work has stopped since 2017," Kumar stated further.
He said the proposed Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Rs.166.29 lakhs need to be discarded and a revised DPR of the work done liability of Rs.52.62 lakhs and balance works in the building are required to be prepared.
"It is proposed that the DPR of Rs.166.29 Lakhs need to be discarded and a revised DPR of the work done liability of Rs.52.62 Lakhs and balance works in the building are required to be prepared with the arrangement of funding, aggregating to Rs.80.00 Lakhs approximately, so that remaining balance work is taken up on priority expeditiously and completed in next three months for the use of the students. The funding can be either met from the state sector plan or the savings of works under Samagra Shiksha," it read.
