Rudraprayag; Some forty five kilometers from Shiva’s highest shrine Kedarnath, the students of Primary School in Bhitsaim find it difficult to concentrate on their studies. Every half hour, the children have to stop their classes mid-lesson and wait for the thrum of the helicopter landing or taking off with pilgrims, to subside.The chop-chop-chop of the chopper rotors, from close vicinity makes it difficult for students to concentrate on their lessons.
Complaints came pouring in from all quarters. Students, parents and teacher’s alike put their grievances across to the District Administration who soon found the state-of-the-art solution. “After rounds of meeting, it was suggested that the chopper companies hired to ferry pilgrims, would from their CSR funds build sound-proof rooms for the students of the nine primary schools located close to the helipads at Phata, Guptkashi, Gaurikund, Sonprayag and Narayankoti,” informs District Magistrate Rudraprayag, Mangesh Ghildiyal.
Working on war footing, seven out of the nine chopper companies worked over a period of two months and finished their assignment. With double-glazed windows, sound-proof doors, roofs re-done to minimise any kind of disturbance from outside, these rooms have made life easy for teachers and students as well.
A relieved Headmaster of the Primary School in Siri, Shri Sanjay Prasad, tells us, “Every half hour we have a helicopter ferrying pilgrims to and fro from Kedarnath shrine, this routine would invariably disrupt lessons, but now these newly constructed sound-proof rooms have made it easier for us to continue our lessons without any disruptions.”
“Now two more chopper companies have to meet their target, which they promise to, as soon as they resume flying in the region,” assures Mangesh Ghildyal, DM, Rudraprayag.
So, for now, the only sound that you can hear in these sound-proof rooms is that of the tiny-tots working hard, in pin-drop silence.
