Row over new Urdu school building

ستمبر 9, 2007 بوقت: 7:37 صبح (Urdu News)
Tags: news, urdu

HUBLI:Controversy has cropped up over an Urdu primary school building coming up in Unkal, as the public allege that the structure is encroaching on land reserved for garden.

Hubli rural block of the Public Instruction Department is constructing a new building for the Urdu medium school on agriculture land which it got from a local donor.

Convenor of the Unkal Jana Jagarana Vedike, Sanju Badaskar said they had intimated the sensitivity of the matter to the authorities concerned several times verbally and in writing.

He noted that as the Muslim population in Unkal village is less, running a school there will not serve any purpose.

Expressing doubts over the hurry in starting the construction work, Badaskar said the officials were misleading the public saying that no permission was necessary to construct a government school.

He asked officials to show blue print and permission from the authority.

Block Education Officer (Hubli rural) P S Mullur brushed aside the allegation of encroachment and said the department is running an Urdu school since 1991 at a local masjid as it does not have its own building.

Records show that earlier there was an Urdu Higher Primary School. The department has received Rs 4.4 lakh under Sarava Shikha Abhiyan to build two classrooms.

The allegations have a communal angle. The Jana Jagarana Vedike has appealed to shift the location of the school. AN Urdu school near a temple could ignite communal sentiments of either community and disturb the peace