MALKANGIRI: Allegations of substandard work have emerged after a portion of the boundary wall of a school, which is under the State government’s school transformation plan, caved in just days ahead of its inauguration in Analapadar village under Mathili block here on Sunday.
Sources said work is underway at Analapadar government high school for the last three months, to give it a facelift with better infrastructure. The transformation is being carried out under the 5T programme at a cost of around `35 lakh.
Residents of Analapadar and neighbouring villages were looking forward to the school’s inauguration which was scheduled for May 31. They have now demanded a high-level probe into the incident and stringent punishment for those involved in the construction work.
While the recent rain is being attributed to the wall collapse, locals have raised questions about the quality of work being carried out across the district under the government initiative. Contacted, Mathili BDO Ashish Kumar Bhoi said it was an old boundary wall. As a new boundary was not sanctioned for the 5T school, we coloured the existing one.
About 20 meters of the boundary wall has been damaged and more of it is likely to collapse. I have informed the DRDA about the issue and the expenses incurred in colouring the wall will be recovered, he added.