State to pull down Garden Reach Mudiali High School, construct new building

 In the backdrop of the recent collapse of an under-construction building in Garden Reach that led to the death of 12 people, the state government has decided to pull down the Garden Reach Mudiali High School in Ward 133 which has been in a decrepit condition and construct a new school building.

The decision of pulling down the building was taken in a meeting held in the chamber of the Speaker of West Bengal Legislative Assembly Biman Banerjee in presence of state Education minister Bratya Basu, Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, who is also an MLA from the constituency where Garden Reach is located and members of the managing committee of Mudiali High School.

Banerjee, who lives in close proximity to the school, is himself a member of its managing committee. The school authorities recently met Banerjee and had expressed the worst fear with the school building in shambles. It has been decided that during the period of pulling down and constructing a new school building, the existing students will continue their studies from neighbouring schools.

There are around 150 students in the primary section of the school while in the upper primary and above level, the number of students is 1300. The primary section students will be shifted temporarily to Nut Behari Das Girls High School while the rest will have their classes at Mudiali Girls School. Students of Mudiali Girls will have their classes during the morning and those shifted from Mudiali High School will have afternoon classes.

“We will take necessary measures for shifting the students in quick time and we hope to begin the process from April 15,” Sushen Kumar Mondal, headmaster of Garden Reach Mudiali High School said. The state Education department and the KMC will jointly bear the expenses for demolition and construction of the new school building. Some of the money will also be allocated from the MLA fund of Hakim. The school authorities have expressed their heartfelt thanks to the Speaker for the initiative.