PIMPRI: Police department has zeroed in on the PCMC school building in Premlok Park, where the civic body is currently running English Medium school, for the upcoming police commissionerate. Currently, 650 students from standards I to VIII are studying in this school. If the civic body agrees to hand over this building for the commissionerate, the future of these students will be uncertain, as they may have to be shifted elsewhere.
According to sources in the Police department, civic body has agreed to hand over the school premises to the police department. However, due to the formalities, it will take another few weeks for the actual process to start. Considering this, the State government is likely to miss its deadline for the inauguration, which is May 1.
When Sakal Times contacted, Kalpana Chavan, Principal of the school, she said, “The municipal authorities have not informed us about any decision to shift the school for the police commissionerate. But this is a convenient space for all the students. The new space, which is being discussed, is adjacent to the railway track and is not safe for students.”
The parents have also opposed this move, as they feel it is unsafe to send their children to Dalvinagar, the area where this school is likely to be shifted. The parents claimed that this area is surrounded by slums. The children from the neighbourhood places like Thergaon, Link Road, Vetalnagar and Vijaynagar are studying at this English Medium school.
The parents informed that the school was earlier located at Chinchwadgaon, but it was shifted to Premlok Park, as the space was inadequate. Despite the fact that children studying at this school have to travel longer distance, they had accepted this change.
Fourteen classrooms on the first and second floors in the school are currently being used for classes from kindergarten to class VIII while classrooms on the ground floor have been rented out to a private school. As the number of students in the English medium school are increasing day by day, if the premises are handed over to the police department, this school will now have to be shifted to nearby Pandharkar Vasti in Dalvinagar.
