Denied school bus travel due to delay in fee, Odisha students block roads

PARADIP:  Denied to travel by buses run by Paradip Port Authority  (PPA) due to delay in paying bus fees, students from across many schools of the town staged a protest at Do Chakki on Paradip-Chandikhole NH and Paradip-Cuttack State Highway on Thursday. 

As per reports, students from Nehru Bangla, Udyabat, Balighar and other areas, travel to Paradip Port, around 12 km away to attend classes in different schools. The PPA has engaged two private buses on a contract basis to carry the students to their schools. Students of Saraswati Sishu Mandir, NAC High School and Aurobindo School pay Rs 2,275 each every year as travel expenses. The management of schools deposits the money with PPA which issues pass to the students for travelling by buses. The schools were supposed to pay the fees by July 15 this year. 

However, while NAC High School has not yet deposited fees for a single student, Saraswati Sishu Mandir has deposited the fees for only 49 students. Aurobindo School has deposited the fees for all its students. The school authorities had returned the amount to the students whose bus fees were not submitted with PPA due to the late deposit. 

Traffic was paralysed on the NH and the State Highway for four hours due to the protest. A student Kajal Ray said it is tough for her parents to arrange the bus fees on time due to financial constraints. “I deposited the fee late but the school authorities returned the fees depriving me of availing bus facility to go to school,” she rued. 

Meanwhile, a senior official of PPA said the fees for school buses were not deposited by several schools on time. Headmistress of NAC High School Bimala Sethy said PPA did not accept the fees of 82 students because those were not deposited on time. “We returned the fees to the students,” she said. The agitating students were assured of steps to resolve the issue by the police following which the road blockade was called off in the afternoon.