765 Schools, 11 bridges declared unsafe in J&K: Dy CM
Jammu, March 8 (KINS): As many as 765 school buildings and 11 bridges have been declared unsafe, while another 371 bridges require major or minor repairs, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary informed the Legislative Assembly on Saturday.
Choudhary, who is also the Minister in charge of Public Works (Roads and Buildings Department), shared the details in a written response to an unstarred question by National Conference legislator Shamim Firdous.
“The Public Works Department (PWD) has completed a safety audit of 382 bridges constructed 20 years ago. The audit found that 11 bridges were unsafe, while 250 required major repairs and 121 needed minor repairs,” he said. Unsafe bridges have been closed for public use, and reconstruction is underway. A safety audit of bridges constructed in the last 10–20 years is ongoing, he added.
The School Education Department conducts annual safety audits under the National School Safety Programme. The department has identified 765 unsafe school buildings, which are not being used for teaching and are being dismantled following proper procedures. All institution heads have been advised not to use unsafe structures to ensure the safety of students and staff.
The PWD assesses damaged school buildings on a case-by-case basis, and any structure found unsafe is immediately decommissioned. Additionally, private schools must submit a building safety certificate to the Education Department for recognition.
In the Health Department, safety audits are conducted as per technical feasibility. The renovation, repair, and expansion of hospital buildings follow strict safety guidelines. Based on technical assessments, the district hospital in Anantnag was limited to G+2 levels instead of G+4, while ‘Rehmat-e-Alam’ hospital in Anantnag was declared unsafe for medical use by IIT Jammu during a safety audit.(KINS)
