Classroom gift to govt school

Berhampur: Descendants of late Pandit W V V B Ramalingam Pantulu, a freedom fighter and an eminent educationist, have gifted three classrooms to the government-run City High School here. They not only constructed the classrooms but also provided the required furniture. The keys of the newly constructed rooms were handed over to the school headmaster by members of Ramalingam family at a function recently.
"Around Rs 10 lakh was spent on the construction of the new block named after Ramalingam," said P Venugopal Rao, a family friend of the family. The funds were contributed by descendants of the freedom fighter, who reside in different parts of the country and abroad, he added.
The main donors are Ramalingam's granddaughters Janaki Sastry, an academician in the UK, P Santa Kumari and P Mahalaxmi, both doctors, settled in Vizag. "We think the best way to pay homage to our grandfather was by constructing the block in his name," said Santa Kumari. This year is Ramalingam's 50th death anniversary.
"We requested them to construct these rooms, as the school did not have enough space to conduct classes," said P Satya Narayana, president of student-teacher association (PTA) of City High School. The present school building was also constructed with the efforts of Ramalingam, who was also the chairman of the then Berhampur Municipal Corporation, he said.