Barwani (Madhya Pradesh): School kids from Nawad hamlet and its adjoining areas falling under Balwadi tehsil of Varla tehsil in Barwani district are desperately waiting for the new school building after their old middle school building submerged in a reservoir constructed on Tori River.
Many of the villagers said that the old middle school building in the hamlet was submerged in the water along with agricultural land of a few farmers in the reservoir water constructed by the water resources department about three years back.
Initially, there was a delay in getting compensation for those affected. But the construction of the building has not started and the reason has been the non-availability of land. According to the Hingwa Gram Panchayat, the land for the construction of the building has not been earmarked nor was any amount released for construction of the school till a year back when the amount was released to the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Tribal Development Department, Barwani.
thereafter, this amount of more than Rs 13 lakh was deposited in the account of Gram Panchayat on November 27, 2020. The Gram Panchayat has to get the school building constructed and search for suitable land is underway. A few people have also expressed their desire to donate land, but there has been nothing concrete so far.
In the meantime, arrangements in another building in the village have been made.
Apart from school, there are other problems too. Earlier, the distance of Nawad hamlet from Hingwa was about two kilometres through the river. Now people have to travel from near Mohanpadawa culvert and the distance has increased to six kilometres. The condition of the road from Nawad hamlet to Mohanpadawa is pathetic.
When contacted Hingwa gram panchayat secretary Ashok Thackeray said that due to the submergence of the school building, we are in the process to build a new school building in the village. The amount has been deposited in the account of the Panchayat and a letter has been written to the forest department to give the land to the government. We will start construction once we get the land, Thackeray said.
