On his students’ grave

How does a school, which turned into the grave of 32 of its students and whose builder has been indicted for using poor building material, c...

How does a school, which turned into the grave of 32 of its students and whose builder has been indicted for using poor building material, come up again? A visit to Ghodasar and you’ll know. Three-and-half years after the 2001 tremor brought down the Swaminarayan Vidya Mandir School in Ghodasar, a spank four-storey building has come up on that very site. Regardless of the fact that cases are still pending against the accused — builder Ramchandra Patre and his two sons.

The parents are busy protesting how they got permission to do so and the accused are yet to pay compensation to the family of the deceased students.

The builders have already started promoting the new school — with pamphlets and cable advertisements, efforts are being made to woo all those who left in the wake of the quake.

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Builder-cum-trustee (he’s also the principal) Patre violated building bylaws and used inferior quality building material. Incidentally, the building that collapsed was meant to be a residential one — it came up in three months and was converted into a school without permission from the municipal corporation. Yet, this man gets away with building another school.

Sixty-year old Patre and his two sons Prakash and Ramesh are also accused of producing fake solvency certificates before the court to obtain bail. On Wednesday, the court dismissed their discharge application, stating that a prima facie case exists against them.

The parents admit that the court order brought them a ray of hope, but the builder constructing a new school has shocked them. ‘‘Patre is building a school on the graves of our children, we are shocked and have decided to move a PIL in the high court,’’ says Vinoda Patel, who lost her only son Pratik.

Determined to fight against Patre, the 32 families have decided to start a door-to-door campaign.