Restore derelict school, residents request Pallavaram municipality

CHENNAI: Dingy rooms and dilapidated walls amid heavy outgrowth are all that’s left of a derelict primary school that was once run at Bharathipuram in

Chromepet

by the

Pallavaram

municipality. The only reminder of the school built in 1970, that functioned on land donated by freedom fighter Parali Su Nellaiyappar, is its rusty board with barely decipherable letters.


The facility that stands on a 5,000sqft plot has become a

tipplers

den, complained

residents

, who urged authorities to renovate and put the building to use. The school was closed more than 15 years ago.

Residents added that the land must be put to use before the real estate mafia grabs it.

“The way the school and its premises lie in ruins today betray the memory of the freedom fighter. Nellaiyappar was gifted 3.16 acres of land by former chief minister Kamaraj during his tenure. Nellaiyappar donated 5,000sqft of it for construction of an educational institution. If this school building is repaired and the school is restarted, it will benefit students nearby. It can even be converted into a library to benefit the public,” said R Ramadas, a resident of Bharathipuram.

Ramadas added that several petitions sent to the municipality and the Kancheepuram collector over the years failed to elicit a response.

“There were plans to start a community oldage home and an animal birth control centre for dogs, but nothing materialized,” he said, adding that Nellaiyappar wife’s had stated that the land strictly be used only for educational purposes.

Chromepet residents met the Pallavaram municipal commissioner Senthil Murugan last week and petitioned him to renovate the school. “With the support of local politicians and like-minded people, we presented a petition to the commissioner who promised to look into the problem after writing to the education department. But we want no further delay and misuse of the building,” said V Santhanam, an activist from Chromepet, who was one of the petitioners.

Senthil Murugan told TOI he was not aware of the history of the school or what plans the municipality had earlier. “I am yet to look into the issue,” he said.