Kashmir govt seeks HRD minister Smriti Irani's help in funds for rebuilding flood-ravaged schools

New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Education Minister Naeem Akhtar on Monday met HRD Minister Smriti Irani in New Delhi and sought her intervention in expediting the release of special fund to rebuild the flood-hit infrastructure in education sector in the state. [caption id=“attachment_2239372” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] HRD minister Smriti Irani. PTI[/caption] The Vice-Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), who visited the state recently for personal assessment of the damages, had submitted his recommendations to the HRD Ministry for special funding to rebuild the damaged infrastructure. Akhtar said while educational institutions across the state were badly hit by devastating floods in September last year, the educational hub in the heart of Srinagar in particular had been the worst affected, said a release issued by the state government. He said prestigious institutions in Sringaar like SP College, Amar Singh College, Women’s College MA Road, Degree College Bemina, College of Education, SP Higher Secondary School, Girls Higher Secondary School Kothibagh, Girls Higher Secondary School Amirakadal and others suffered massive damage to libraries, laboratories, furniture and other items. Irani said she would be personally visiting the state to take an overall review of the education sector so that deficiencies in infrastructure and human resource are addressed comprehensively, the release said. Akhtar also sought the intervention of the Union HRD Minister for speeding up the process for setting up the proposed IIT at Jammu so that the classes can be started from the current academic session. He said the state government has already identified the site for the purpose. He was accompanied by Minister of State for Education and Information Priya Sethi. He also urged the HRD Minister to expedite the release of funds under SSA so that not only the salaries of the aggrieved teachers are released, but infrastructure development is also speeded up in the crucial school education sector. During their interaction, Irani assured the Minister of sanctioning more Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) and Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) for J&K to cover the uncovered districts. Regarding making IIT Jammu functional, the Union Minister said that a team of officers from the Centre would be visiting Jammu soon to expedite the process for setting up of IIT, the state government release said. PTI