The North Delhi Municipal Corporation and the Delhi Government appear to be on the same page when it comes to compromising with safety of schoolchildren. While the corporation has miserably failed to secure its school premises, the Government is not inclined to provide civil defence personnel for the NMC schools. Consequent to this, the civic body has decided to approach the Home Guards for security of its schools.
The move comes after the Revenue Department of Delhi Government refused to provide 568 civil defence personnel despite three months of negotiations. The corporation had even prepared a cheque of `1.8 crore in lieu of the personnel but the Government refused to provide the manpower. After much deliberation, Principal Secretary (Finance) Dharam Pal agreed to provide the force to the civic body but no written communication has been made confirming the same.
A senior official of the NMC said they will be writing to the Home Guards to provide their workforce who are better trained than the civil defence personnel.
“We had planned to deploy one civil defence person in each of our school but despite three months of deliberations, we are yet to get the manpower. We have been verbally assured but no written confirmation has been made. We had also prepared a cheque of `1.8 crore towards remuneration to the Delhi Government. The Government was given three-day time to respond but no communication was made and we had to approach the Home Guards. A formal letter will be sent on Wednesday,” said the official.
A list of all NMC schools with names of their principals was also sent to the Revenue Department for the purpose. He, however, added that even if the Government provided the civil defence personnel, the arrangement will only be for three months. “We will replace the civil defence with Home Guards who are better trained and able to operate arms. Further, their presence in khaki will improve their visibility in the school premises and instill a sense of security,” officials said.
It is noteworthy, that the civic body had decided to deploy security guards in schools in order to strengthen the security of its students. It had also asked the Delhi Police to identify sensitive and vulnerable sites near schools to keep a tab on any suspicious activity inside and surrounding the school premises.
Following the alleged rape incident in a Mangolpuri School, the civic body had also decided to strengthen the security apparatus in the schools. This included installing of CCTV cameras in the schools, raising the height of boundary walls with iron grills and barbed wire fencing and deployment of school attendants and guards. Officials said, at present NDMC schools are guarded by a school attendant and a chowkidar.