Mysore/Mysuru: Even as some city-based organisations have continued to stage protests to save NTM School on N.S. Road, where a Viveka Memorial to be built by Sri Ramakrishna Ashram  is proposed to come up, Chamarajanagar BJP MP V. Sreenivasa Prasad has offered to mediate in a bid to end the row once and for all.

Speaking after inaugurating  the dining hall at Nrupatunga Kannada School premises at Ramakrishnanagar here on Thursday, Sreenivasa Prasad said that there should be no doubts on the decades old NTM School existence issue, as the school can be developed even at the place where it is shifted to. 

Maintaining that the Gover-nment will provide the necessary infrastructure for the School’s development, the MP argued that the construction of Swami Vivekananda Memorial Cultural Youth Centre will be of great help for lakhs of students in their extra curricular activities and learning.

Noting that he had raised the issue when he was the Revenue Minister in the Siddharamaiah-led Congress Government, he said that Siddharamaiah had  then asked him to wait for Court verdict as the matter was already in the legal jurisprudence. Later on, the Court ruled in favour of Ramakrishna Ashram, he said and expressed disappointment over the ongoing protests. 

Contending that it is not right on the part of organisations to hit the streets against the Court’s ruling, the MP said that the protestors can knock on the doors of the Supreme Court if they were not satisfied with the HC ruling. 

Recalling that Dr. Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of the earlier UPA Government at the Centre had decided to construct Viveka Memorials across the country, he said that accordingly, it was planned to construct one at Mysuru in the heart of the city. 

Asserting that the issue right before us is to construct Vivekananda Cultural Youth Centre at NTM School site, Prasad reiterated that he was ready to mediate for arriving at a mutual understanding between the contesting parties to end the row amicably.

Referring to the practice of giving gifts during marriages, Prasad said that he had instructed all invited guests not to give any presents during his daughter’s marriage. But still, some of his relatives and friends gave some gifts, he said adding that Rs. 50,000 collected as gifts was donated to mid-day meal scheme at Ashokapuram School.

The School authorities submitted a memorandum to him seeking grants for construction of four classrooms, to which the MP assured that he would release  as much money as possible  from his MP grants. 

University of Mysore Vice-Chancellor Prof. G. Hemantha Kumar, Registrar Prof. R. Shivappa, Vidwan Dr. Manjunath, Nrupatunga Kannada School President P. Mallesh, office-bearers S.R. Sudarshan, H.G. Krishnappa, H.T. Shylaja and others were present.