Gujarat: Junagadh school building razed over ‘poor-quality ’, engineer suspended

“It is to send across a clear and loud message of transparency and accountability in the education infrastructure…structures will be demolished in the same way and action will be taken against people responsible in such cases,” Pansheriya told The Indian Express.

The contactor of the civil work, Rajkot-based R L Jasani, has been issued a show-cause notice. Jasani is taking note of the demolition work on the directions of the Education Department, and has to submit a report with photographs of the work to the department.

“Based on the response, penalty will be imposed on the contractor,” Ranjeeth Kumar J, State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha (Gandhinagar) told this paper.

Adding to this, State Project Engineer at Samagra Shiksha, K D Patel, said, “After the initial findings revealed that there were lapses in the construction work, TRP Gohil, who was a contractual engineer, has been relieved immediately.”

While the demolition work is being carried out by the same contractor, Patel said that new construction work will be done by another. The estimated cost of the school building, where two classrooms were under construction, is around Rs 50 lakh.

Villagers complained that the building’s roof had developed major cracks a day after the construction of the ceiling of the ground floor slab on March 19. They informed taluka officials, but since no action was taken, they directly contacted the minister and sharing videos and photos with him, apart from submitting a verbal complaint.

Based on the complaint, the minister issued necessary instructions to the Education Department and asked officers concerned to take immediate action. On the orders of the minister, the district project engineer, third party engineer, TRP, and contactor agency representatives carried out a review on March 19. During the inspection, the quality of the construction was found to be unsatisfactory, and demolition orders were issued.

Pansheriya also revealed that two similar newly constructed buildings have been demolished due to poor construction quality. In one of these cases, the detection came during its inauguration by the minister.

“Earlier, at the inauguration of the Government Primary School in Bhandaria village of Khambhaliya taluka in Dwarka district in November 2023, and of an Anganwadi centre in Derod village of Kamrej taluka in Surat district in July 2023, immediate action was taken when the quality of construction was found to be poor and the structures were demolished. Both of these buildings are now ready,” he said.