Kaparada, one of the most backward areas of Valsad district of Gujarat, will soon have a new library and a redeveloped tribal residential school. Not just Kaparada, but the tribal residential schools of two more villages are being taken up for redevelopment, thanks to the District Development Officer of Valsad, Manish Gurwani, whose efforts have resulted in work being taken up at a fast pace in these projects.
IDENTIFICATION
Tribal residential schools are maintained by the government as well as the District Development Council or District Panchayat. The ones which are maintained under the government’s tribal department tend to get grants or funds easily, whereas, the District Panchayat has to maintain the schools from the budget assigned to them.
While speaking to Indian Masterminds, IAS officer Manish Gurwani said, “During field visits, we identified three such tribal residential schools which were under the District Panchayat and were in a very poor condition. One ashram school was in Dharampur taluka and the other two were in Kaparada.”
One of the schools is located in Gadi village of Dharampur taluka and the other two are located in Girnara and Jamgaban village respectively. After identification of the poor condition of the ashram schools in these villages, the officer took them up on priority basis for redevelopment.
ALLOCATING FUNDS
At first, the two tribal residential schools in Gadi and Girnara were taken up for the redevelopment. Mr. Gurwani said, “Under the 15th Finance Commission, Rs 50 lakh as grant-in-aid was passed for each ashram school. Apart from this, funds were sought from the CSR funds by two companies namely Pidilite and Gujarat Themis Biosyn Limited (GTBL), Vapi.”
Hence, an MoU was signed for the construction of 8 classrooms, hostels, mess, and staff quarters where a Rs 1 crore project will be taken up with District Panchayat’s 15th FC funds and GTBL on a 50-50 basis. A similar MoU was signed for the Girnara ashram school with Pidilite for creating these facilities at the Tribal Residential School.
The foundation stone in both the ashram schools was laid on Gujarat Sthapana Divas which is celebrated on May 1. “The work of redevelopment has now started and is expected to finish in another six to seven months,” the officer said.
Whereas, a grant for the third school which was identified in Jamgaban village was sought partly from the Tribal department and Taluka panchayats, and some from the discretionary grants of the DDO itself. Hence, a 51 lakh grant was sanctioned to construct the classrooms, toilet blocks, and other renovations.
LIBRARY
Mr. Gurwani further said, “Kaparada, being one of the most backward talukas, does not have many facilities where children can prepare for competitive exams. A lot of demand was coming from the taluka as several students were preparing for various examinations.”
Soon funds were sanctioned from the District Panchayat and Taluka Panchayat to build a library-cum-reading center in Kaparada. Around 60 lakh were sought from district panchayat whereas, 30 lakh from Taluka panchayat.
The library will have a capacity of 120-130 people and will be designed in a way that it can cater to the youth who are preparing for various competitive exams as well as the senior citizens who can use it for general reading. The foundation stone of the library was laid on June 18.
These projects in Valsad are being looked at as pioneering works in the state as such redevelopment work is being taken up for the first time in backward settlements.
