'Speed up land transfer process for KVs in state'

BHUBANESWAR: The school and mass education department has asked district collectors of 17 districts to expedite land transfer process for setting up Kendriya Vidyalayas. At present, many KVs are functioning on land plots that are not recorded in their name and from rented premises.
"Setting up of Kendriya Vidyalayas is inordinately delayed in your district due to non-alienation of land for the purpose.I request you to look into the matter and see that the requisite land is allotted in favour of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan by August 31, so that necessary steps can be taken for setting of the school," school and mass education secretary Usha Padhee wrote to the collectors in a letter.
According to sources, the Congress-led UPA government had announced the setting up of 11 new central schools in the state in 2010 and again announced six more schools just before the general elections in 2014. The construction of the KVs is hanging in balance because land has either not been identified, or, not allotted, despite the necessary sanctions by the HRD ministry.
The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), the apex body of central schools, will provide the required funds for infrastructure development for the KVs in the state.
The KVS has shot off several letters to the state government to expedite the land acquisition process so that schools can be set up at the earliest and has also threatened to stop admission in some schools running temporarily, but to no avail, official sources said.
There are around 40 Kendriya Vidyalayas in Odisha.