MUMBAI, Jan. 20 -- The municipal administration will submit a revised building plan for a civic school in Mankhurd after the present one, for a multi-storey building, was shot down by the defence establishment. This means further delays in the civic administrations' effort to rebuild a school it demolished five years ago, after the building was deemed dilapidated and unsafe for use. This is the second instance after Colaba, where the construction of a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) school has been delayed due to objections to multi-storey buildings near defence establishments. In Mankhurd, the proposed school site lies directly opposite a defence installation. The school building in the old Mankhurd village was demolished in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic after it was declared dilapidated. It used to have 450 students on its rolls, from Classes 1 to 7, in Hindi, Marathi and Urdu medium sections. Santosh Surve, chairperson of the Janjagruti Vidyarthi Manch, an organisation working on education issues in Mankhurd, questioned the decision to demolish the school. "The building was repaired in 2018 but suddenly declared dilapidated and demolished during the pandemic. Its students were forced to shift to other schools far from their homes," Surve said. Hindustan Times had reported on December 20 that since this school was razed, ward 135 has no BMC school. A similar situation had arisen in Colaba, where a BMC school project was stalled due to defence objections, following which the civic body had to revise its construction plan. Students from the Mankhurd school now attend classes in a school in Maharashtra Nagar. To get there, students cross suburban railway tracks and a busy main road every day on their way to school. "It is not possible for us to risk our children's lives just to send them to school," said a parent. Surve, who is also an alumnus of the BMC school in Mankhurd, said parents point out that there was no need to build a multi-storey structure. "A basic school building like the old one will do," he said. Prachi Jambhekar, deputy commissioner of education, The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), said, "We had submitted our proposal to the defence authorities, but it was not approved because of the new rules. We are now redesigning the plan and will submit it again to obtain the required permissions," she said. Defence officials told HT that permission could not be granted under existing guidelines. "In accordance with extant guidelines issued vide Government of India Ministry of Defence letters dated May 18, 2011, and subsequently amended on March 18, 2015, and November 17, 2015, the Indian Navy is not authorised to issue a no-objection certificate for multi-storey school construction due to close proximity to the defence establishment INS Shikra," reads a statement from the defence authorities....