Civic school restoration runs into monorail roadblock

Plans to rebuild a popular municipal school in Lalbaug have, quite literally, run into a roadblock - the towering pillars of a monorail station - leaving around 700 displaced students struggling in unfamiliar schools.

- Niraj Pandit

MUMBAI:

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been told that piling work for the proposed new school building would damage the pillars of the Mint Colony Monorail Station. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which operates the Mumbai Monorail, has raised objections that have delayed plans to reconstruct the school.

The Sai Baba Path School, a six-story institution with primary and secondary sections, was a crucial educational hub for the local community before it was shut during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The premises were used to store medical materials used to treat Covid patients when an oxygen cylinder exploded, causing a fire. The already weak structure suffered further damage, so the BMC decided to demolish it and construct a new building last year.