Dilapidated school buildings demolished after HM’s tearful entreaty

TIRUVANNAMALAI: The tearful entreaty of a panchayat union primary school headmistress seeking new buildings as the old ones were highly dilapidated, during the gram sabha meeting at Kannamangalam town panchayat in West Arani Panchayat Union in Tiruvannamalai district resulted in the officialdom demolishing the buildings on Tuesday night.

The gram sabha meeting took place under the chairmanship of town panchayat president Mahalakshmi Govardhanan. During the meet, the PU elementary school HM Shanthi became emotional while stating that the school which had 147 students and 7 teachers lacked toilet and drinking water facilities and that four buildings were highly dilapidated and needed to be demolished, no action resulted despite officials being approached repeatedly.

Her emotional outbreak resulted in Mahalakshmi inspecting the school the same evening with the BDO following which the buildings were demolished. Social activists and political figures, including former AIADMK minister Sevoor S Ramachandran visited the spot, on Wednesday. Also higher PWD officials.

Despite demolition, there were enough class rooms for students, sources added.