BMC spends Rs 4.12 crore to repair Kurla's school building then demolishes it

The school has now been demolished PicsDatta KumbharIn the last seven years the only thing that Kurlas Nehru Nagar Municipal School has taught its students is how to waste taxpayers money After spending Rs 412 crore on shoddy repairs of the school the BMC is now demolishing the same building which was found to be dilapidated even after the expensive renovation There is no word on whether there will be an investigation into where all the money wentThe school was closed for repairs way back in 2011 and its 4000 students in Hindi Urdu and Marathi medium were moved to other schools The School Infrastructure Cell SIC awarded the contract to Kinjal Construction for the repair and strengthening of the groundplusfourstorey building The project were completed in November 2013 at the cost of Rs 412 crore but the school could not be reopened as the repairs were found to be substandardMohammad Jamaluddin KhanFresh repairs requiredIn 2016 a team from BMCs Technical Advisory Committee TAC conducted a visit and found that the buildings condition was still shoddy and dilapidated A consultant recommended that fresh repairs be done at the cost of another Rs 452 crore The TAC found this unfeasible and instead ordered that the building be pulled down Demolition of the school began in March and is still ongoingThe racket came to light after activist Mohammad Jamaluddin Khan got hold of the TAC report through an application made under the Right To Information RTI Act Khan has now complained to the Chief Minister BMC Commissioner as well as the AntiCorruption Bureau ACBKhan said I was shocked to read the TAC report which stated that the building needs another structural repair The TAC in its final observation stated that the further expenditure of R456 crore is not viable so the building should be demolishedAnuradha Pednekar former local corporator said The school building had cracks and was also lopsided I had already told the authorities that instead of repairing it they should demolish it and construct a new structure I was told that such a provision does not exist After spending crores now they are demolishing the structure anywayThe other sideUttam Shorte deputy chief of the School Infrastructure Cell said This was special case an uncertain problem was created in the building pillar We consulted NIIT too and they said the building was still dangerous On the basis of the TACs decision it was decided to demolish the buildingWhen asked why the officials did not investigate the shoddy repairs he said You go and find out Prakash Kadam the BMC engineer at the time for the project said The building was repaired but due to a natural calamity cracks began to develop again This was not just in the school building but also in nearby residential buildingsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates