The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) has been asked to vacate the rented or donated buildings from where nearly three dozen of its schools are being operated as the owners of these properties want to put them to commercial use. However, the Corporation has refused to vacate the buildings following which the owners are even mulling legal recourse.
Most of these buildings are located in prime commercial areas; in and around Chandni Chowk and Paharganj. Owners rue that these buildings were rented out to the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) nearly 50 years ago. The Corporation continues to pay a meager Rs100 to Rs125 per month towards rent, while the rent of these properties is estimated to be in lakhs.
Chairman of NMC’s Education Committee Ram Kishan Bansiwal confirmed saying he has been receiving requests from the property owners to vacate these buildings. However, the Corporation has turned down their requests saying it has been paying the rent on time as agreed upon with the owners. “The property owners have been citing high rentals in these areas as compared to what the civic body is paying. The Corporation will not vacate these buildings,” Bansiwal said.
These rented school buildings are at Teliwala in Sadar Paharganj Zone and Sohanganj in Civil lines Zone. Apart from these, a number of schools are located in areas, like Chuna Mandi, Mori Gate, Katra Ishwari, Fatehpuri, Kinari Bazar, Cheera Khana, Mohalla Dasa, Mor Sarai, Char Hatta, Roshanpura, Khari Bawli, Queens Road and Novelty Cinema in City Zone.
Since these areas are commercially significant, exploiting these buildings would fetch huge monetary benefit to the property owners. The Corporation, on the other hand, fears financial burden as vacating these rented buildings would mean huge expenditure on renting new properties or constructing new school buildings.
According to the NMC officials, a total of 34 schools are operating from rented buildings within its jurisdiction. Of these, 22 schools fall within the City Zone.
Similarly, Sadar Paharganj and Civil line Zones have nine and three rented school buildings respectively. Of the total rented school buildings, 14 school buildings are already lying vacant either due to its precarious structure or due to inadequate number of students in them.