40 years on, Sainik School still sans land

Govt apathy to blame

— School authorities are running from pillar to post to get the land lack of which had hampered further development of the school.

— The school was to sign an MoU with the state government but even after 40 years the files were gathering dust in the different departments of the state government.

— The administrator of the school said that the school administration was facing a number of hurdles in the development of the school and wanted the state government to consider the issue at the earliest in the interests of students of the school.

Dinesh Kanwar

Hamirpur, September 30

Despite ranking high on the list of sainik schools in the country, Sainik School, Sujanpur Tira (SSST), is still landless. School authorities are running from pillar to post to get the land lack of which had hampered further development of the school. The school was to sign an MoU with the state government but even after 40 years the files were gathering dust in the different departments of the state government.

Significantly, the foundation stone of the school was laid by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974 and Sainik School, Sujanpur Tira, was inaugurated by Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, the then President of India, on November 2, 1978.

The school was to produce cadets with strong character and then to mould them into joining defence forces as officers. The Sujanpur Tira school holds the second position among a total of 27 sainik schools in the country for grooming 421 Army officers, who made it to the National Defence Academy (NDA), Kharagwasla, ever since it was set up. The first position in sending the highest number of its 600 students to the NDA is held by Sainik School, Ghora Khaal.

Local elected representatives of both the key parties the BJP and the Congress have always made lofty promises that best possible facilities and support would be provided to the school but the promises are yet to see the light of the day. The school that is managed and maintained by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is mostly fund starved. The management has to request repeatedly for financial assistance either from the state government or from the Centre.

The major problem was the status of the school. It was owned by the MoD but the land was of the state government. The MoD has urged the state government to transfer the land to it so that it could easily support the school.

Sources said that once the MoU for land transfer was signed with the state government it would start receiving continuous flow of funds and the maintenance of buildings would also be responsibility of the state government.

At present, the buildings that were constructed 40 years ago were in dire need of renovation. The MoU would also make the state government liable for the pension for non-defence employees of the school.

The state government had refrained from signing the MoU in view of financial burden on the state exchequer. The issue of land transfer was also on hold as the school had demanded transfer of part of the historical Sujanpur Chaugan to the school so that it could create a partition and take control of the portion of the sprawling ground. This would help in ensuring the safety of students who were exposed to threats from locals.

Lt Cdr Sachin Verma, administrator of the school, said that he had met Governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to get the MoU signed. He said that the school administration was facing a number of hurdles in the development of the school and wanted the state government to consider the issue in the interests of students of the school.

Over 75 per cent seats in the school were reserved for students of the state, he added.