CUTTACK: The dwellers of Jai Mangala Basti, evicted by the local administration on the basis of the high Court diktat, have rendered the prestigious Ranihat School precincts a dirty cesspool.
Open defecation and urination in the school campus, where they have been accommodated, have sent the students and the parents into a tizzy. Hygienic aspects apart, they have gone on destroying the school furniture with impunity much to the chagrin of all. This has triggered an outburst from the students and their parents alike who resorted to a novel protest today. They took to the streets by holding open classes on the road in front of the school. With mats laid on the road, students of Class VII and Class X sat down to study from 6.30 am to 9.30 am.
With around 158 families thrown out of the slum being housed in the school, it has been rendered unfit to hold classes, complained a parent, Deba Sahoo. The school has been closed for a week now and the studies have been seriously hampered. For the Class VII and Class X students, it was more agonising as they could not get ready for the pre-test examinations due shortly. With the Orissa Court directing for continuation of food and shelter for the evicted persons till July 27, there is no chance of resuming classes for the next 10 days, rued a parent.
“How can the children’s future be held to ransom in the name of accommodating some people. The administration should immediately shift them to some other place and vacate the school”, said locality leader Rajendra Kumar Sahoo.
The school has about 16 classrooms with 1604-odd students. With pressure mounting, the administration and school authorities today started cleaning six rooms for conducting classes for VII and X students. “We would be resuming classes for them from Monday as their exams are round the corner”, headmistress, A Senapati, said. Facing flak over the situation and under pressure from the Court order, the administration is grappling with ways to get out of the mess. “We cannot shift them because there is no other place in the vicinity to accommodate around 800 people. even if we do, it would have to be another school and the same situation will erupt”, said an official.
The proposition to get them into a community centre of Kalyan Mandap has also been dismissed as unfeasible as those being private property would not be open to this business and at the same time it would be too costly, sources added.