Gujarat Congress unit slams BJP govt for sending delegation to Delhi

The Gujarat Congress on Thursday questioned the ruling party BJP on sending a delegation to Delhi even as 'its own house was not in order'.

State Congress chief Jagdish Thakor cited Wednesday's protest by the school students in the Motimarad village of Rajkot district.

Motimarad village is a part of the Dhoraji Assembly constituency from where Congress' Lalit Vasoya is the MLA. He said the building is in a depilated condition and 165 students of school number 3 were shifted to school number four.

The new school building is approved and funds are also allocated, but work will commence only after the Assembly elections. As two polling booths are in school number 3, so the collector has stayed rebuilding till elections. Till then the students have no other option but to travel to nearby school. Vasoya said, "Why a few classrooms can't be constructed before the elections so that the students don't have to travel."

The students and their parents from another village, Gamanpura village in Ahmedabad district. They locked the school, village panchayat building and even the post office.

Gamanpura village's social worker Kanubhai Sameshara said that the state government has closed the village school and merged it with the Lakshmipura village. A total of 45 students in Class 1 to 5 and 27 students for Class 6 to 8 are affected by this. The villagers want the school to be restarted in the village only.

Congress party's senior leader Arjun Modhwadia alleged that in the last two years, the state government has closed 577 government-run primary schools in the name of mergers.

The state government has decided to merge primary schools with less than 100 students with the nearest primary school and for transportation the state government arranges vehicles for students.

--IANS

haresh/dpb