Power cut in APJ Abdul Kalam's school for non-payment of bills

Rameswaram: The primary school, which the late people’s president Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam attended as a boy here faced a rude shock on Thursday, as the power connection to the school was cut off by the local Tangedco authorities for non-payment of electricity dues, causing much agony to the local residents.

Enquiries with the authorities revealed that the power supply to the Mandapam Panchayat Union Primary School in Rameswaram, where Dr Kalam had his primary school education, was cut off as the school had not ostensibly paid the electricity bill dues for the past two years, mounting to Rs 10,603.

However, with the village education committee (VEC) making a fervent plea to the Tangedco authorities, power supply was temporarily restored to the school in the afternoon on condition that the school pay up its electricity bill arrears within a week, said K. C. A. Balamurugan, president of the VEC. This has not gone down with the locals either, for they did not expect such a treatment to a school which produced a great visionary and humanist in Dr Kalam, he pointed out.