CM announces Rs 1 cr as immediate relief

SHILLONG, May 21: Assuring the government’s full support, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Sunday said he will immediately release Rs 1 crore to the school managing committee of KJP Girls’ Higher Secondary School from the CM’s Special Development Fund.
“We will work out together to arrange the necessary funds to ensure that the school is back to what it was after calculating the full estimates. We cannot give back the same building and the sentiments attached to it in the sense that it was a very old and heritage building. But I am sure the managing committee will appropriately decide how to move forward,” Sangma said during his visit to the school on Sunday morning to assess the situation. He was accompanied by Cabinet Minister AL Hek.
Sangma said the work will start immediately after the fund is transferred to the school managing committee.
“We’ll have to see whether they want to stick with the old design or change it. That is a decision which is not in my capacity to take,” he said.
“I was told that the managing committee has decided to let the students go back. But again, that’s a decision the committee will have to take. I will give full support in whatever way they require whether it is shifting to a temporary location or any other decision,” Sangma said.
The Chief Minister said he had suggested to the school committee to retrieve as many documents as possible.
Stating that it is a great loss for the students, school, church and the community as a whole, he recalled how the school had transformed thousands of lives.
North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum, KHADC CEM Titosstarwell Chyne and UDP general secretary Jemino Mawthoh, among others, also visited the school.