Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (EP)
Kundapur, Mar 28: Parents of Anganwadi children at Hattiangadi in the taluk on Friday March 27 staged a protest alleging shoddy work by the contractor who undertook the construction of Anganwady building in their village. They alleged that the walls of the building under construction were not being properly cured to make them strong by spraying water on them on regular basis. Hence, they feel that the building poses danger for kids and so not suitable for being used as Anganwadi centre.
A local contractor had taken up the construction of this building for a sum of Rs 1.5 lac as grant from zilla panchayat, department of women and child welfare and the gram panchayat. The contractor after laying the foundation had undertaken the work on walls using red stones. But he had not used water for curing even after laying three rows of stones. The locals had objected to this omission, as they feel it will compromise on the quality of consstruction.
On Friday, when parents learnt that curing was not done even after 15 days, they protested alleging that the construction was unscientific.
Moreover, one room had been built earlier and the wall of the new building is constructed adjacent to the wall of this room. The wall of the present building is leaning away from the wall of the earlier room, and if a slab is built over the wall that has no support, the slab is likely to crasj on the heads of children. “The concerned officials should take immediate corrective action”, they said. In case the contractor proceeds to build the slab on that wall, they will not allow the work to continue, they warned.
Palekar, engineer in taluk panchayat, Kundapur has said that the work is being scrutinized, the red stones forming the wall without proper curing will be removed and new wall will be constructed.
The protesters have said that they will not allow continuance of the construction on the present wall. They demanded that the wall be demolished and new wall be constructed. They said that their children will not be sent to Anganwadi if these demands are not met..