A government school in Srinivasapur taluk, the mango bowl of Karnataka, in Kolar district has fetched a fair amount of money from the mango crop grown on the land belonging to the school.
The auction of the mango orchard belonging to the Government Kannada Lower Primary School at Avalakuppa village took place a couple of days before the beginning of the new academic year and it fetched more than Rs. 4 lakh.
Avalakuppa falls under Hodali gram panchayat limits. The 10-acre land had been donated to the school by Munivenkatappa, a good Samaritan farmer, way back in 1959.
The mango orchard on the land started to yield fruit about eight years ago and the yield is being auctioned since then, Block Education Officer K.T. Raghavendra told The Hindu . This time around when the bid was called for the yield, it was finalised for Rs. 4,26,500 by J. Shankar, beating another bidder Athaullah. The auction process took place in the presence of the School Development and Monitoring Committee office-bearers and the village residents. The amount earned is maintained in a SDMC joint account.
Two-thirds of it will be given for the maintenance of the orchard, school headmaster M. Ravindra Singh said.
The remaining amount will be spent for the maintenance and development of the school.
The students of the school will also be supplied uniforms, ties, shoes and stationeries after taking permission from the BEO.
