Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma on Wednesday assured that the construction work of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) will start this year.
Talking to reporters, the Education Minister admitted that the unavailability of land has led to delay in the construction of these EMRS and said he will review the status of the construction of these 40 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) across the state.
“I had review meeting in April, the whole issue is because of land. The construction was delayed because of land issue. . In Meghalaya under the Sixth Schedule, the land belongs to the people unlike in Assam where land belongs to the government,” Sangma said.
Most of the lands have been parted with the hope for some kind of compensation or job opportunity to the land owners. However, the ministry (Govt of India) did not accept this as they wanted land free of cost,” he added.
Stating that the construction of the schools is already delayed by 4-5 years, Sangma said, “We are already late but this year, it is my commitment we will see the work will start on construction of these EMRS.”
Further, the Minister said, “I will be taking a review next week with all deputy commissioners of the different districts and I think as a state government we will be taking up with the land owners that we will take responsibility for giving some jobs to land owners.”
The Minister also claimed that the EMRS were sanctioned by the Centre at Rs 24 crore each during the financial year 2018-2019.
Adviser to the Education department HM Shangpliang said land has become a major factor as the blocks have to provide 15 hectares of land free of cost and that is the policy of the government of India.
“There are reports that there are some blocks where lands have not been arranged or have not been made available and therefore perhaps the government will be giving just one month more time to such blocks to provide the land, otherwise, we are going to shift those schools somewhere else where land is made available,” he added.