Tribal hostel roof on the verge of collapsing even before completion of work
28 Aug, 2013
The reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that the construction work of a two storey hostel for Scheduled Tribe (ST) girls at the Dhusarbahal Sevashram residential school in Sohela, Odisha run by the SC/ST development department is delayed by around three years.
The reply to the RTI query shows that the building was to be completed by December, 2010. However, due to paucity of labour, the deadline was revised to April, 2013 but even the revised deadline has been missed. Further, the quality of work is so poor that the roof of the building has already started leaking and the beams and the steps have already bent making the structure extremely unsafe. This is the case, when the construction work is still going on as reported by the school management committee.
The committee has filed a complaint with the District Collector and has asked a thorough inquiry to be conducted in the matter. Information gathered through RTI shows that the work contract was awarded to the Panchayat Secretary but he could not be contacted. The district collector has directed to look into the quality of the construction.