Sainik School gets ₹10 crore for renovation after 3 years of wait
The state government’s first financial budget brought cheers for Sainik School. The Congress government announced ₹10 crore for school’s renovation on Tuesday. Punjab’s only Sainik School in Kapurthala is in a neglected state for last few years owing to fund shortage.
The prestigious educational institute has received the grant after three years from the state government. Due to the shortage of funds, the school maintenance has been affected. The 100-year old Jagjit Palace,complex inside the school has developed cracks. Some of old doors and pillars have already collapsed.The previous government had given only ₹1 crore to the school management in 2014 for renovation.
Sources said, “The Union government has been releasing grant for the school but the SADBJP government failed to issue its share, thus, the school authorities have been forced to return the central government’s share for the past two years.”
The educational institute had also not received scholarship funds for 2014-15 and 2015-16 sessions. Following which the then principal Captain Shakti Sharma and registrar Lieutenant Commander Amit Dutt had met the former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to release funds but to no avail.
“School authorities had met finance minister Manpreet Badal in April and raised the demand of over ₹30 crore for renovation and improvement of school infrastructure. Following this, the government decided to give ₹10 crore to the school in this budget,” a school spokesperson said. “We are really happy that the state government finally paid attention towards the poor condition of the school. With this fund we will able to renovate most parts of the school, “said school superintendent Vasanda Kumar.
The school had also raised a demand of ₹3.5 crore for the 2016-17 session from the state government, but they did not receive a single penny. Even the public works department (PWD) had recommended an estimate of ₹12 crore for restoration of the palatial school building last year.
Registrar Lieutenant Commander Dutt, who was transferred to Kerala on June 17 said, “Finally our school’s efforts paid off. The students will be able to get better infrastructure now.” Meanwhile, the state government has also announced to allot ₹ 2 crore for the historic Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Government College Kapurthala in this budget.
cut through the grille to enter the Martyrs’ Well at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on Monday evening and took away money left by visitors. The well has a sombre history as several people jumped into and died while trying to escape gunfire ordered by British Raj officer Reginald Dyer during the April 13, 1919, massacre.
Tourists throw money, articularly coins, into the grille-meshcovered well in remembrance of the martyrs in this Martyrs Well. Though the police on Tuesday said they had detained one person, the exact amount of money taken from the well was not known.
Gaya Parshad, the watchman, told the police: “On Monday, after completing my duty, I was going towards my quarters when I spotted a rope hanging into the well. I immediately went on top of the well and found the mesh from the ventilator window broken. The thieves had taken away money.”
“After identifying two persons, we have rounded up one of them. Though the exact amount stolen is still unclear, the man detained has been found with coins worth ₹ 3,000-4,000,” said ADCP Charanjit Singh.