MEMORANDUM BY
WOMEN AND HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATION
URGING THE GOVERNMENT TO STOP THE PRIVATE TAKE OVER OF THE 148
YEARS OLD HERITAGE BUILDING OF THE MAHARAJA GIRLS SCHOOL
Jaipur,
5th February, 2015
Smt. Vasundhara Raje,
Chief Minister Rajasthan,
Jaipur
Dear Madam,
Today mornings papers brought out the most depressing story of
the failure of successive Governments in Rajasthan to protect
the private takeover of the 148 years old school building of
Maharaja Girls School in Kishanpole Bazar, Jaipur. The silver
lining ofcourse was the protest of the schools girls pledging
that that under no circumstances would they allow their school
building to be handed over to the temple owners who had won a
one sided legal battle.
Women's groups met today to express their solidarity and support
to the students and the school authorities who are working to
prevent the handing over of the building to the temple keepers.
They expressed shock that a school for girls, which has seen
more than seven generations of women students study is being
closed done. Presently the school has an enrollment of more than
1500 students, who are mostly from conservative families of the
lower middle class and poor who stay within the walled city.
They will now not only lose the Government school of their area,
but also their right to education, on grounds of no alternative.
The portion of the building that will be lost to the temple is
the school auditorium for 1500 girls and all the laboratories.
This is one of the few Government schools for girls which has
all the three streams of science, humanities and commerce and
well equipped labs.
Our suggestions are as follows:
-
Declare the school building into a Heritage site: When the
Kotwali Thana, which is a part of the Nataniyon ki Haveli was
restored a few years ago and has been declared a heritage
Thana, then why has, the school building not been declared a
Heritage site. It should be declared a heritage building and
immediately repaired and protected therefore.
-
As reported by newspapers that the Government counsel never
presented appropriate documents in court, it is imperative
that the Government take up this challenge and obtain all the
documents of the erstwhile State Time and fight a new case in
the courts in the interest of the school.
It should take the services of Historians like Dr. Reema Hooja
who has written on the history of Jaipur and education of girls
of not just Jaipur but also from other principalities of the
erstwhile Rajputana. Incidentally we spoke to her and she is
willing to lend her services for the sake of the students and
the school.
-
The Government can appeal to the Temple owner and ask him to
give the land back to the Government for the purpose of school
or it can in public interest as defined under
section 2 (i) (i) of the Land Acquistion law called the Right
to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquistion
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, acquire the
building and the land and give it to the school or it can
buy the land from the Temple keepers and restore the school
back to the school
We appeal to you to intervene and save the school from being
taken over by the Temple keepers for whom the school is just
real estate.
With regards,
Kavita Srivastava, Mamta Jaitly, Dr. Laad Kumari Jain, Sumitra
Chopra, Kusum Saiwal, Nisha Sidhu, Dr. Malati Gupta, Shobhita
Rajasgopal, Kanchan Mathur, Renuka Pamecha, Rakhi, Kailash
Kumbahkar, Nishat Hussein, Komal Srivastava, Mewa Bharti and
others
Contact numbers:
09351562965,
9829068744,
9314503785,
9414443607
email:
[email protected],
[email protected]
Information