In Surat, BJP and AAP councillors oppose change of govt school site

A few days ago, BJP’s Ward No. 7 corporator Narendra Pandav learnt about the development. He along with his colleagues — including BJP’s councillor Diptiben Katariya — made a representation to Surat Mayor Daxesh Mavani and the standing committee chairman Rajan Patel.

Ward No. 7 has four corporators — two are from BJP (Narendra Pandav, Dipti Sakariya) and two are from AAP (Dr. Kishor Rupareliya and Jyotiben Patel). SMC is run by BJP. On Thursday, Pandav and Sakariya made another representation, this time to SMC commissioner Shalini Agrawal, demanding to stop construction.

Talking to The Indian Express, Pandav said, “I have checked with SMC records and learnt there was no record or permission taken for the construction of a school in Ward No. 8. No such proposal has come before the standing committee or the general board meeting for approval till date. We requested that such ongoing construction of the school at the new site should be stopped, and it should be constructed in ward No. 7.”

AAP’s SMC corporators — including the Leader of Opposition, Payal Sakariya — Thursday made representations to Rajan Patel and urged him to stop the construction of the school in Ward No. 8.

AAP corporator  Kishor Rupareliya said, “We have sat on dharna outside the standing committee chairman’s office. We will sit on a dharna till Friday afternoon, when the standing committee meeting is scheduled to be held. If our demands are not met, we will continue the dharna.”

When The Indian Express tried to contact Moradiya, he did not answer the call despite repeated attempts.

Two years ago, BJP corporators of Ward No. 7 (Katargam) submitted a proposal to help students from middle-and-low income backgrounds. The proposal was approved in SMC’s standing committee and general board meetings. In July 2025, the contract was approved through a tender process, and on August 6, 2025, the work order was allotted to a  firm.

On October 7, BJP MLA Moradiya wrote a letter to Shalini Agrawal, requesting her to change the site of construction of the school from Katargam (Ward No. 7) to Ved road (Ward No. 8).  His reason was that more students from “lower income groups and middle class” can benefit if the school is constructed at Ved road.