Anuppur (Madhya Pradesh): Hundred thousand trees have been felled on 13 acres allotted by Gram Panchayat for construction of CM Rise School in Pachkhura village, but the school is yet to be built, sources in Panchayat said.
According to reports, the village Panchayat of Pachkhura allotted 40 acres for construction of road under PM Gram Sadak Yojna and a CM Rise School to provide quality education to the children of tribal people. Out of 40 acres, the road was constructed on 26 acres, sources in the Panchayat office said. There were plans to build a CM Rise School on the rest of the land, sources further said. Though the construction of the school began on time, it did not progress further, but the contractor felled hundred thousand trees grown on the land, official sources further said. The saplings of these trees planted five years ago were under the care of a guard, Buddha Sen Kewat.
According to Kewat, most of them were fruit-trees and he was hurt by it, because he was looking after these trees as if they were his own children. The residents of the area said nearly 1, 00,000 saplings of mango, custard apple, Mahua and other fruits had been planted. When those trees began to fructify, they were cut off, but the CM Rise School, for which the land was allotted, was not constructed. The villagers kept mum when the trees were being cut off, because they thought once the school was built, their children would get a good education.
The villagers further said that because the school was not constructed, they were feeling cheated. Sarpanch Pachkhura village Pinki Singh said that the administration had allotted a plot of land for construction of CM Rise School in Pachkhura and Khamraudh area in Anuppur district. The construction work also started, but because of political rivalry, the contractor stopped the work and cut off all the fruit-trees planted by the Panchayat, she said. A complaint has been sent to the higher-ups in the administration, she said.
