Cleaning school not good: Corporator to Good Samaritans

Bengaluru: The Malleswaram BBMP Primary School, which is just a few yards away from the BJP headquarters in Malleshwaram that falls under the Kaadu Malleshwara ward limits, is in the middle of a tussle between two local groups.

A group of volunteers had beautified the school campus last Thursday and they allege that they are now facing police action for their. But local corporator Manjunatha Raju said that the BBMP is all set to demolish the school building and start building a new one this month, while some few vested interests were politicising the issue in the name of doing the volunteer work.

A few volunteers posted on the social media websites, alleging that they were being harassed by the local police for beautifying the school campus. Ms Rakshith Shivaram, one of the volunteers, posted that they were cleaning up the school on July 28 which landed them in trouble.

“The very next day, we were stopped from working and a police complaint was lodged against the volunteers. The BBMP school authorities, who were supportive initially, requested us to stop the cleaning work, citing pressure from the local corporator. The corporator has even demanded a written apology from the poor teacher. Finally, the best part of the entire episode is that the special commissioner, Mr Ravindra, has instructed the teacher to catch hold of the volunteers and has instructed her to return the walls to their original condition,” he alleged.

Sources said that the case has been registered at Vyalikaval police station against around 60 volunteers who participated in the beautification work.
But Mr Raju, who has been accused of stalling the work, has a different point of view. “The BBMP all set to demolish this old building. The tender process has been completed to build a state-of-the-art building for the school. The work will begin this month,” he said.

“These volunteers have stopped the BBMP from constructing a new building for the last four years and are now trying to tarnish my image in the name of volunteering,” he alleged. “There is one more high school in the same compound. These children will be shifted to the high school building till the work is completed,” he said.