New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday laid the foundation stone of a municipal school building in north Delhi, officials said.

In his address at the event, Puri said the Prime Minister's vision of 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas' can be furthered by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation by serving the poorest of the poor.

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Adesh Gupta, the president of BJP's Delhi unit and former mayor of the north corporation led by the saffron party, said the school building would be developed within a year at an estimated cost of about Rs 8 crore. It will be spread over 8,574.40 sqm, he said.

The three-storey building in Prem Nagar would have 20 classrooms, four nursery rooms, a computer room, two office rooms, a library room, a staff room, two science room, one medical room and two sports room. The building would have separate toilet blocks for girls, boys and differently-abled on each floor, the civic body said in a statement.

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"Primary schooling acts as a foundation of one's career and therefore, the corporation has a greater responsibility regarding those children who study in their schools," Puri said.

North Delhi Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh, South Delhi Mayor Mukesh Suryan, NDMC Standing Committee Chairman Jogi Ram Jain and its Leader of House Chhail Bihari Goswami, among others were also present on the occasion.

Gupta said the corporation serves those who hail from economically weaker sections of society. A better primary education infrastructure would help in providing a congenial environment for students.

He alleged that due to the Delhi government, the corporation is facing a "financial crisis", but the NDMC is striving hard to provide the best possible civic amenities to citizens.

Later, the BJP Delhi office also issued a statement in which Gupta was quoted as claiming that this would be the "largest school" among the three corporations.

"The problem of people living in unauthorised colonies, which they have been facing in the last 40 years, has been been resolved by the Modi government, with them getting ownership rights," Puri was quoted as saying by Gupta.

Under PM Awas Yojana, 1.13 crore houses have been sanctioned in urban areas of Delhi. Besides, the Modi government is committed to ensuring 'jehan jhuggie, wahin makan', he reiterated.

The minister also praised the Centre for the work done during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown it induced, besides the over 100 crore doses of vaccines administered to people in the country, which he said was "quite remarkable".

Gupta said the development in this area will continue, adding the nearly 2 acre land is finally being put to good use, "as earlier it used to be dumping ground for garbage and was in the hands of ragpickers who are Bangladeshi nationals". It has finally been freed from them, he claimed.

He said the children living in Prem Nagar, Nehru Nagar, Baljeet Nagar, Punjabi Basti, besides other areas will greatly benefit from this project.

Gupta said there was a small school in Prem Nagar of 1,500 sqm and classes used to be conducted in two shifts. But now this problem will be resolved, he said.

He also referred to another problem in the locality, saying there is a small 100 m road on DMS road which people find difficult to walk through. "If this problem is taken care of, the people of Prem Nagar will always be thankful for that".

The minister promised that the road will be made even before the school comes up, Gupta claimed in the statement.

Gupta said the school building is targeted to be completed in 18 months, but "we will try to complete it in 12 months".

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Defence and Tourism Ajay Bhatt inaugurated East Delhi Municipal Corporation's Nigam Pratibha Vidyalaya at Geeta Colony on Thursday.

East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal said the building cost nearly Rs 2.43 crore. The school building has two floors. On ground floor there are four classrooms, one hall and separate toilet blocks for boys and girls. There are seven classrooms and toilets blocks on the first floor, he added.

In his address, Bhatt said the new building block will enhance the capacity of EDMC to provide education to more and more children.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)