A video of this scene playing out on the roof of a Government Primary school in a small village in Junagadh drew the attention of State Education Minister Praful Pansheriya.
Dressed in their school uniforms, a group of students are sitting on what looks like the roof of a concrete structure with a long crack on its surface. One of the boys pushes a thin wire into the crack, a voice, evidently of an adult, eggs him on to push it deeper. The boy holds the wire against a measuring scale being held by his friend and announces “3cm”. The adult corrects him: “31mm”.
A video of this scene playing out on the roof of a Government Primary school in a small village in Junagadh drew the attention of State Education Minister Praful Pansheriya who ordered officials concerned to visit the premises, “immediately demolish” the structure, and take necessary action against those responsible for the shoddy construction.
Khajuri Hadmatiya is a nondescript village of Bhesan taluka of Junagadh district. On March 19, the casting of the ground floor slab of the school building was carried out under the Smart School project of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. The very next day, villagers noticed that the roof of the school had developed cracks.
The villagers did complain to the local authorities about this but to no avail. “A few villagers noticed major cracks the next day of the construction of the slab (ceiling). We informed taluka-level officials about this but since our village is an antyodaya village (last-mile village), it is not considered to be politically important. Our complaints fell on deaf ears,” one of the villagers told The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity.
On receiving the video, the minister ordered the district project engineer, a third-party engineer along with other civil engineering experts to review the condition of the school classrooms along with the local leaders.
“If this is the condition on the next day of construction, imagine what will happen if the roof collapses on a student a month or two later? I would not be able to pardon myself,” Pansheriya told The Indian Express.
“Directions have been given to demolish the construction within a week as there is iron and wood shuttering material still intact under the roof. The government is paying Rs 1,400 per sq feet to the construction agency only for the civil work. Mismanagement or malpractices within the education system in Gujarat will not be tolerated,” he added.
“During the inspection, the quality of construction was found to be unsatisfactory. This (the demolition order) is to send a message to everyone on transparency and accountability in education infrastructure. No compromise on quality will be tolerated by this government and strict action will be taken against those who slack in this regard,” the minister said.
When contacted, Ranjeeth Kumar J, State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, Gandhinagar, confirmed, “We have issued a show cause notice to the construction agency. Based on the report by the taluka-level officials and other civil work experts, necessary action will be taken against them. Also, other construction work by the same agency will be probed.”
Sources said the contractor of the civil work is a Rajkot-based agency, which has been asked to take note of the demolition report along with the photographs of the work and submit it to the Gandhinagar education department office