By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Sainik School here is battling to save its sprawling campus from being taken over by various government organisations. While the school has already lost 75 acres from the original 300 acres for a film park, the fresh assault has come from BrahMos Aerospace that has sought a slice of its land to set up a unit.
The school, situated on the outskirts of the capital city, now has a 225 acres campus. Several state and central government organisations have been coming here to see if they can get a part of the property to set up new establishments.
The school, which was originally 300 acres when it came up in 1964, saw 75 acres being taken over by the state government a decade back to set up the Film and Video Park of the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Since then, there have been several others who have tried their best to get a part of the school land for other projects.
Last month the chief executive of the BrahMos Aerospace came to the school and sought some land to set up their unit. New Delhi-based BrahMos Aerospace is an India-Russia joint venture for manufacturing supersonic cruise missiles.
“I will fight tooth and nail to see that this does not happen. My boys require more infrastructure and we have plans for several new projects,” said school principal Col B. Ajith Kumar while addressing the Old Boys gathering that took place at the school Saturday.
The earlier attempts to shift the G.V. Raja Sports School to a corner of the Sainik School campus was thwarted by several alumni who occupy important positions.
The school plans to set up a state-of-the-art obstacle course, new buildings, an equestrian course and a herbal and spice garden.