Enjoying the spoils of suspended babu

Pappu Kumar, 7, a milkman's son, had a watershed moment in the bathroom of suspended IAS officer SS Verma's confiscated house in Bihar's capital. Arun Kumar reports.

Pappu Kumar, 7, a milkman’s son, had a watershed moment in the bathroom of suspended IAS officer SS Verma’s confiscated house in Bihar’s capital on Thursday.

“Aaj nahane mein maja aya (Enjoyed the bath today),” said Pappu, whose school started functioning on Thursday morning in the three-storey house of the bureaucrat charged with amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income.

HT Image

The bathroom with luxury fittings was a big draw and there was no stopping the students of the primary school for musahar (Scheduled Caste) children from soaking in a first-time experience. The state human resource development department shifted the Primary School Rukanpura Mushari from a slum in the city to the upscale house near Bailey Road. As classes began, the ground floor came alive with children revelling under lights and fans, luxuries for them till now.

Usha Sinha, the school’s headmistress, said, “The palace is now home to the most deprived sections of the society, courtesy (chief minister) Nitish Kumar’s crusade against corruption.”

The school has 94 students and three teachers.

The CM had announced last year that the government would open schools in confiscated buildings of corrupt bureaucrats. Verma’s house is the first to get the makeover. Cases of corruption are pending against 19 other senior officials.