Ggn private schools refuse to rollback exorbitant fees

GURUGRAM: It seems to be a long drawn fight for thousands of parents in Gurugram as the two private schools that were ordered to roll back their increased school fee have refused to do so.

While the management of Blue Bells School has decided to contest the order of the Fee and Fund Regulatory Committee (FFRC) through legal means, another school DPSG Palam Vihar has refused to decrease the school fee.

Angry over the defiant approach by the management of the private schools, parents on Wednesday met the Divisional Commissioner D Suresh and shared their grievances that their children continue to be harassed by the school managements over non payment of fees.

After meeting the parents, the Divisional Commissioner, who is also the FFRC chairman, has called for a meeting between the parents and the DPSG school management on Thursday following which the future course of action will be decided.

Ironically, most of the secondary classes of the school are also not legally registered with the District Education Department.

After auditing the specific private schools, it was decided by the District Administration that the exorbitant increase of the school fee is arbitrary and unwarranted.

The administration thereby asked the management of the private schools to not only roll back the capitation fee but also refund the excess fee that was collected from the parents.

Citing enhancement of facilities for the students as well as implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission, most of the private schools have justified the increase in the school fees.

The decision by the private schools, however, has been fiercely resisted by hundreds of parents who have been resisting against the unjustified and non transparent manner under which the fee amount has been increased.

“There is an education mafia that is prevalent. Most of the private schools are taking advantage of the fact that there is lot of demand and less of supply. Earlier they used to get away by exploiting parents but now its limit to which they are finally exploiting the middle class parents,” said Rajesh Yadav, one of the aggrieved parents whose daughter is studying in DPSG school. GURUGRAM: Three upcoming builder projects at Golf Course road have been fined with amount of Rs 6 lakh by Haryana Pollution State Control Board (HPSCB) for flouting environmental norms and causing pollution. The builders have been provided with a deadline of 15 days to pay the penalty failing which action will be initiated against them.

It was found that guidelines set by National Green Tribunal (NGT) such as sprinkling water at construction sites that allows dust and placing tarpaulin sheets around the construction site were not being met by the builders. Dust pollution caused due to builders not following the norms has been attributed as one of the major reasons for deteriorating air quality in Gurugram.

“A strict surveillance is been maintained on the builders who flout the norms. We have been taking action against the erring builders in the past and will continue to do in the future in order to improve the city's air," said a senior official from HPSCB.

Commenting on the steps taken to curb dust pollution the official said, “Dust pollution is a major challenge in Gurugram. We are coordinating with the officials of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on the issue. The present process of cleaning dusty roads of city with broom has not been useful especially when there are lot of construction activities which are happening in the city. We hope introduce vacuum cleaning of major routes in the city.” The civic body had announced to install water fountains along busy traffic intersections.