HYDERABAD: Around 1,000 square yards of open land in Chaderghat has turned into a bone of contention between the Education Department and Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL). The issue came to the fore after students and teachers of the Government City Model School, Chaderghat, staged a protest against a contractor’s attempts to start construction, by doing Bhoomi puja on Wednesday.
When the school management enquired with the contractor, he claimed that the HMRL had assigned him construction work to build a parking area on the playground adjacent to school. After the issue landed at the office of Deputy Educational Officer, Hyderabad, Syed Mukarram, he forwarded the complaint to District Educational Officer (DEO) against the contractor. The DEO in turn informed the police.
Speaking to Express, DEO Venkata Narasimha informed that she had forwarded the complaint to the Collector and also to HMRL regarding the issue and requested the Collector to resolve the matter. “Despite the District Collector’s directions, Hyderabad Metro Rail has failed to hand over the playground to the school management. Following a representation to Collector back in 2019, he wrote to the Managing Director of HMRL to hand over the playground to the school management but the HMRL ignored the orders,” she explained.
However, authorities from HMRL denied that any such works were being undertaken. “No contractors have been assigned work by the HMRL as the management is yet to take a call on this issue,” said an official. On Wednesday, students of Government school, Chaderghat and locals protested against the contractors and forced them to leave the place while they were about to start work.