MGP seeks halt to railway construction beside 108-year-old Mysuru school
Mysore Grahakara Parishat has urged the Deputy Commissioner to stop railway construction on open space adjoining Government Vontikoppal School, citing heritage rules and Master Plan provisions.
The Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) has asked Deputy Commissioner G. Lakshmikant Reddy to immediately halt railway construction on an open plot adjoining the 108-year-old Government Vontikoppal School in Mysuru, arguing that the work is continuing despite stop-work orders from the Regional Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner.
In a letter dated September 23, MGP working president S.K. Dinesh said the Railways cannot invoke Section 11 of the Railways Act to escape State and municipal regulations for putting up residential apartments. According to the organisation, that exemption covers only core railway infrastructure such as tracks, bridges, tunnels, stations and yards, and does not extend to housing blocks or a Kalyana Mantapa. Any such construction, it contended, must follow State and municipal rules.
MGP also pointed to land-use provisions, stating that the site figures as open space in the Mysuru Master Plan and that the Railways would therefore need clearance from the Mysore Development Authority (MDA) to build there.
Highlighting the school's heritage value, the organisation noted that the institution is over a century old and that its status restricts construction in the surrounding area. It referred to a spot inspection by Regional Commissioner Nitish Patil, who, it said, observed that State laws bar construction around schools that have been in existence for more than 12 years.
The letter also cited the Deputy Commissioner's earlier orders to stop the work and an assurance given by Union Minister for Railways V. Somanna to the school headmaster on September 20 that the school would be protected. MGP has requested that directions be reissued to railway officials to halt all construction around the school.