Heritage School Building in peril

Puttur (Dakshina Kannada district): A government composite college building with a 109-year-old history is in danger of being washed off. A large portion of the earth just 10 -12 feet from the building has already slid down in the rain on Friday night, and over 1800 students are attending classes under the fear of their school building collapsing due to a landslide.

The school is located in Kombettu village in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada and has been putting across proposals to the government year after year for over a decade. “The school is situated on elevated land in Kombettur village on a hill of laterite soil and every year during the monsoon, a sizable portion of the landslide occurs, At present, the edge of the precipice is just a few feet from the compound wall and only 10-12 feet from the heritage building. We are afraid that if the compound wall falls, there is not much time for the building to be in grave danger” said Gopala Gowda, principal of the college.

Concerned citizens have also raised a voice against the nonchalant attitude of government officials and the people’s representatives. “Every year after a landslide is reported, they come and make a show in front of the people, The MLAs also have not taken any initiative in saving this school. The school has a strength of 1800 students and has been getting good results year after year, and in the 2023-24 academic year, the results were to the extent of 94.6 per cent, which is a good result to achieve. Moreover, the school is a part of the history of Puttur and has a large number of alumni who have excelled in various fields Dr. Amrut Malla, an elder of the town and a heritage activist told Hans India.

The school has a large playground abutting the compound wall and a plan was proposed by the school management committee to build a sports gallery on the same place prone for landslides, which would arrest the further landslides and also save the heritage building. But even that proposal has not seen the light of the day.