Morung Express News
Punglwa | September 12
Spring next year will usher in a new season of education at Punglwa as the DAN government-initiated Sainik School located at Peren District begins classroom studies. Officials from the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) and its sub- contractor, Ansari Co. disclosed that formal inauguration of structural parts can be hopefully done in October end or early part of November, 2006 and the school can start running classes by April next year, though there could be minor delays. However, a September end finish is what the government as well as contractors are all aiming for, informed sources told The Morung Express.
DAN government, especially the Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has been assuring that the ongoing construction work would be completed in time and the class would start as per schedule. The Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the NPF led DAN government which included setting up of Sainik School in the state, could be one of the pressing reasons for the ruling dispensation to complete the project on time. With Assembly elections not far off, the completion of the school will be a huge boost for the Chief Minister and his political fortunes, analysts say.
As of now, 2 three-storey dormitories, mess, staff quarters, administrative block, infirmary, water treatment plant and storage tank are on the verge of completion. The construction started in July last year.
However, construction of school academic building began only in June this year as the Company received the blueprint late, said NBCC officials manning the site at Punglwa. This may cause slight delay in finishing the building by 10-15 days, supplemented Lal Babu of the Ansari Company.
What should however worry the Chief Minister is that the construction of other facilities like swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court, badminton stadium, hockey field, track field, horse riding shed etc. have yet to begin. While on a visit to the Sainik school site, reporters from The Morung Express found out that even the NBCC official overseeing the project had no idea about it. “It does not come under the purview of the corporation”, NBCC Manager Amarnath said when queried. Apparently, the construction of these sports and other extracurricular infrastructure would be undertaken by the state education department. But with school session beginning on April 1, the Chief Minister himself will have to give a big push on this front so that students seeking admission to the prestigious school are not left disappointed and the credibility of the first Sainik School in Nagaland does not suffer.
Moreover, there are other things like construction of culvert, which doesn’t came under the scope of the NBCC, and the sanction has not been made for this purpose. The NBCC and the Ansari Co. has now employed about 450 labourers in the site. Apart from the NBCC and Ansari Co., the Assam Rifle too has deployed its bull dozer to help speed up the leveling of site for play ground and construction of the approach road.
Though the NBCC feels that costs may not escalate as it usually happens in other state projects and construction will be completed within the parameters of the stipulated original estimate of Rs 14.07 crore, the Ansari Company is speculating that their share of profit may slightly go down as they are investing extra efforts and time owing to the presence of a number of huge rocks in the construction site.
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