Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday wrote a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in connection with long pending land-related issues in respect of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), South 24 Parganas-I and Malda in the State of West Bengal.

JNVS are co-educational residential schools providing modern quality education to talented children predominantly belonging to the rural areas from Classes VI to XII, he informed in the letter. These accommodations would be free of cost for over 200 students.

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“The pre-requisites for the opening of a JNV are the provision of about 30 acres of suitable land, free of cost, along with adequate temporary rent-free accommodation, sufficient enough to accommodate approximately 240 students, to be provided by the concerned State Government to run the Vidyalaya for a period of 3 to 4 years or till the construction of its own permanent Vidyalaya building complex,” read the letter.

As per the letter, the said land was sanctioned in 2007 which was made functional from a temporary site by the district administration.

“The latter had also assured to transfer land in favour of NVS for construction of the permanent building. However, the transfer of the offered land is still awaited and the temporary site has also been withdrawn during February 2021. As a result, the students studying in the JNV, South 24 Paraganas-I had to be shifted to the nearby JNVs and further admissions to the Vidyalaya have also been put on hold,” added the letter.

He also stressed that JNV, Malda which was sanctioned in November 2016 is still non-functional for want of suitable land for construction of the permanent site and temporary accommodation.

The Union Minister further sought the addressal of the issue.

“In view of the above, I would like to request you to look into the matter personally and issue necessary instructions to the concerned officers to expedite the identification and transfer of suitable land and temporary accommodation for both the above-mentioned JNVS on a priority basis so that these Vidyalayas can be made functional at the earliest in the larger interest of the education of the rural children of these two districts” he added.