Delhi plans upgrade of facilities in 400 schools
By IANSWednesday, January 19, 2011
NEW DELHI - The Delhi government Wednesday said it would start work in a month on strengthening infrastructure in its 400 schools to avoid a repeat of a stampede in a school in Khajoori Khas in east Delhi in 2009 in which five students were killed.
Appearing before Delhi High Court’s division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, government’s standing counsel Najmi Waziri said work would start in the schools within a month.
The bench sought an affidavit from the government with details about the nature of work it would carry out to avoid any accident in schools.
At least five girls were killed in the stampede in east Delhi when they were moving up and down using a narrow staircase on a rainy day Sep 10, 2009.
Earlier, the court had enhanced the compensation for the victims from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.5 lakh and directed the government to pay it to parents of the five victims.
The court had also enhanced the relief for the families of 35 injured children from Rs. 50,000 to Rs.75,000.
The bench had also directed the government to take action against officials responsible for occurrence of such a man-made incident in the school.
