PUDUCHERRY: Underlying the importance of preserving age-old buildings in Puducherry, Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Thursday urged industrialists to contribute to the development of government schools.
The CM was speaking after inaugurating a renovated building at the 137-year-old VOC Government Higher Secondary School, under the Smart City project, spending Rs 3 crore. This renovation project was taken up to preserve the heritage value of the building, as per the guidance from INTACH and Puducherry Technical University. In the event, attended by Lieutenant Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundarajan, the building was handed over to the education department.
Rangaswamy said, “Many tourists visit Puducherry for its heritage buildings. The government spends `1 lakh each to maintain 75 such buildings. Unfortunately, the Mairie building collapsed during renovation. Calve college/school building works will soon be completed.”
He added that government schools need proper maintenance and allocation of additional funds. Industrialists should also contribute to the renovation works, he said and added that efforts have been made to attract more students to government institutions, such as the 10% medical seat reservation. L-G Tamilisai said, “Puducherry allocated 12% of the budget for education, the highest in India.”
Ministers A Namassivayam and K Lakshminarayanan, chief secretary Rajeev Verma, other officials, teachers, and students were present at the event. The event also featured the launch of dashboards for L-G and CM offices and the signing of an MoU between the public works department and Indian Bank for the Central Median Beautification project under the CSR.