Renovation of govt schools gathers momentum in city

Sukhmeet Bhasin
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, January 15

Work on upgrading infrastructure and renovating government schools in the city has gathered momentum.

Many government schools have been selected for providing new buildings while others would be renovated.

Government Secondary School at Sanjay Nagar will be renovated at a cost of Rs 2.72 crore and Government Secondary School at Paras Ram Nagar at a cost of Rs 2.20 crore.

The designs of both schools have been finalised and their renovation work has been allotted to a contractor, who will start work shortly after demolishing the old unsafe building.

The government school at Udham Singh Nagar will be upgraded and renovated at a cost of Rs 25 lakh. The site has been visited by an architect for designs and the work has been allotted.

Similarly, Government Elementary School, Dhobiana Basti, will be upgraded and renovated at a cost of Rs 70 lakh. The designs of the school have been finalised and the work has been allotted for Phase-1 in which seven rooms will be constructed on the first floor over the existing block.

Government Primary School, Hazi Rattan, will also be renovated and upgraded at a cost of Rs 1.85 lakh and Primary School, Desraj, at a cost of Rs 75.28 lakh.

In both these schools, the designs have been prepared by an architect where the chief architect has made a visit to both sites and the designs will be finalised soon.

A sum of Rs 1.85 crore will be spent on the renovation of Ghaniya Nagar School, Rs 57 lakh on Housing Board School, Model Town, and Rs 3.76 crore on the Lal Singh Basti school.

In the three schools, the site survey has been done and sent to the architect for design. The chief architect has also visited all sites and soon the designs would be finalised.

Besides, Des Raj Secondary School and GNDTP Special School will be renovated at a cost of Rs 1.12 crore and Rs 86.42 lakh, respectively. As the renovation work is proposed for both schools, they await administration approval.

This project is the brainchild of Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal. Under the project, new classrooms, sports arena, Wi-Fi, CCTV cameras and new sections will be added to schools.

Manpreet Badal’s wife Veenu Badal visited all schools and checked what more facilities could be made available to them.

Veenu Badal said, “We would focus on providing quality education and sports facilities to students at the school level as this is the stage when students develop interest either for studies or sports.”

“In order to promote sports, the Finance Minister is planning to provide best facilities in schools,” she added.