By IANS
Bhopal : A man who a week ago staked his life for a school building has passed away at a government hospital here, the police said Monday.
Shiv Prasad Ahirwar, who was president of the Parent Teacher Association, succumbed to his burns Sunday a week after he torched himself in the janta durbar (public meeting) of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliament member Virendra Khateek Jan 7.
The late Ahirwar was demanding a building for government-run Ganesh Mandir primary school in Bhagwanganj area of Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district.
He sustained 80 percent burns and was rushed to Hamidia Hospital in the state capital.
Ahirwar had also submitted a memorandum to the district administration about a month ago, warning that he would immolate himself if his demands were not met, sources said, adding, “The administration took it (the warning) lightly”.
“Of the 2,691 primary schools in Sagar district, 630 do not have buildings while of the 84,027 primary schools in the state, 6,239 are conducted in the open,” according to a district elementary education report card popularly known as DISE.
“As many as 6.9 percent children, in Sagar district, are enrolled in the schools without a building.”
The incident brings us back to the question of implementation of the much pronounced schemes and the kind of glitches which get into (the) way of providing each child the basic right to education, said education campaign activists.
They said that in this case money had been sanctioned for the school building, in fact had lapsed twice but the problem was that land could not be allocated.
“More astonishing is the fact that the administration could not provide land for a school which has majority children belonging to Dalits for whom every government boasts of doing aplenty,” one of the activists said.
“Since Shivhare (Ahirwar) lost his life for a cause allegedly because of the negligent attitude of the administration, state government should compensate his family and arrange for the livelihood and education of his five children,” said Avinash Jhade, state coordinator Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Abhiyan (education campaign).
“The officials found responsible for not taking precautions despite the warning of self immolation should also be dealt with strictly,” Jhade said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has asked divisional commissioner, L.S. Baghel, to inquire into the incident.