Three Government primary schools destroyed in the June 2013 disaster in the Agastyamuni block of Rudraprayag district were rebuilt and handed over to the school management by the Rotary Uttarakhand Disaster Relief Trust (RUDRT).
Addressing the media in Dehradun on Saturday, the RUDRT trustee YP Das said that the reconstructed schools were handed over on the occasion of Children’s Day in the presence of the Kedarnath MlA Shaila Rani Rawat. Half a dozen more schools in the disaster affected areas of Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts are slated to be rebuilt by RUDRT, he added.
Das said that the government primary schools at Kyunja, Chameli and Baniyadi in Agastyamuni block were destroyed in the June 2013 disaster. These schools were reconstructed by Rotary India with financial assistance from the Dalmia Bharat Foundation and handed over to their respective school management committees on Friday. The reconstructed buildings of these three schools that have about 40 students each now consist of two classrooms with school desks and benches for the students, separate toilets and boys and girls and a kitchen in addition to a solar street light in the school compound.
The schools have been built as per the building specifications provided by the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee and as approved by officials of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Government of Uttarakhand, he said. The workers toiled hard to complete reconstruction of the schools especially in areas without power supply. Six more schools are under construction and will be ready for handing over in the month of December 2014 followed by another six schools in April 2015. The RUDRT is planning to reconstruct about 35 schools in the disaster affected areas of Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts in the future. The one lakh plus Rotary Club members across India have made donations for this effort, added Das. Rotarians Rakesh Agarwal, David Hilton, Jagat Batra, Pranav Sahni, Rajesh Goyal and Saket Ahuja were also present on the occasion.