SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Feb 27: The students of DAV School Rangamati, Sindri have stopped attending classes for the last one week in wake of tension prevailing over forceful construction on the institution’s ground by local encroachers.
Sensing insecurity for students, the principal of the school has given a letter to the deputy commissioner (DC) senior superintendent of police and other concerned senior officials. A guardian of a student has also filed an application in Jharkhand High Court and a hearing of the case is scheduled today.
Taking serious note of the principal’s complaint, DC Sandip Singh immediately directed the circle officer (CO) of Jharia to assess the playground and stopped illegal encroachment. The CO after inspection ordered the Baliapur police station, under which the school falls, to remove the encroachment duly.
The Jharia CO Rampravesh Kushwaha inspected the spot and directed the Balaipur police station to take action. But even 72 hours after the CO’s directive, Balaipur police have not removed construction material from the ground of the school.
DAV Sindri School, which is around 30 km away from Dhanbad district headquarters, has a student strength of 4500. The students of Govindpur, Dhanbad, Jharia, and Baliapur attend the school by bus.
Though encroachers in the name of tribal have been trying to capture the playground of the school for the last five years, on February 13, they put up a Sarna religion flag and dumped concrete there for construction. They not only blocked the bus standing space of the school but also threw liquor bottles on the school campus.
The land of the school and its ground belong to the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI). In 1994 under the agreement, FCI gave land to DAV School in writing. But local encroachers are claiming it to be a religious land.
In August 2019, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), New Delhi taking serious note of DAV Sindri School playground encroachment, directed the then deputy commissioner Dhanbad to intervene and do the needful for the safety of students. CO Jharia, on the directive of DC, screened the playground agreement paper of the school and FCI management. CO ruled in favour of the school.
Despite it, encroachers continued disturbing and threatening students. Even principal Ashutosh Kumar was attacked due to complaints to DC and others.
On September 30, NCPCR New Delhi shot off a second letter to the Dhanbad DC demanding an Action Taken Report (ATR) for the safety of DAV Sindri School students on basis of the first letter (August 2019) of the Commission.
“Safety of students is at stake there as the administration is not taking steps against encroachers despite complaints. So we have stopped sending out students till the situation becomes normal,” said Dhanbad based a guardian.
