Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Parents stage dharna before Ravindra Bharati

Staff Reporter

Closure of school, criminal case against correspondent demanded

IN AGITATION MODE: Parents of the deceased students at the Collector's camp office in Vijayawada on Saturday. — Photo: Raju V.

VIJAYAWADA : Registering their protest against the management of Ravindra Bharati English Medium School, parents of the 15 deceased students staged a dharna in front of the school gate on Saturday.

Holding the photographs of their wards on their laps, mothers of the children sat near the school gate. Agitating parents demanded immediate closure of the school and booking of a criminal case against its correspondent Veeramachaneni Venkateswara Rao.

In an open letter addressed to the Education Minister and the District Education Officer, the parents criticised the State Government for not responding to the picnic tragedy even after six days. The letter was pasted on to the school compound wall and photographs of the deceased were affixed to it.

In the letter, the parents sought to know from the Government how could the correspondent reopen the school when the Government ordered its closure. They also raised the issue of ordering a judicial inquiry into the tragedy.

Though the management announced holidays to the school, the parents gathered at the school by 9 a.m. and sat on a dharna. Security guards posted at the school opened the gates only at 11 a.m.

Meet Collector

The parents went into the school and decided to meet District Collector Navin Mittal to narrate their woes, as no representative from the school approached them for talks.

The parents met Mr. Mittal at his camp office in the evening. During an hour-and-a-half-long conversation, the Collector interacted with all the 15 parents individually and consoled them.

After the meeting, the parents said that the Collector expressed condolences, besides assuring that justice would be done to them.

"There was no discussion about closure of the school or ex gratia to the kin," said J. Lakshmi Ramadevi, mother of J. Raghu, one of the deceased students.

The parents decided to meet at the school on Sunday morning to chalk out their future course of action.

Left parties' demand

Meanwhile, representatives of the two Left parties met the Collector and submitted a memorandum demanding Government's intervention in the issue, registering a criminal case against the school correspondent, payment of ex gratia to the kin of the deceased and cancellation of the school recognition.

CPI (M) city secretary R. Raghu and the party floor leader in the municipal corporation Ch. Babu Rao expressed dissatisfaction over the Collector's response to their memorandum.

Parties flayed

"The Collector found fault with the intervention of political parties in the issue. If the Government fails to do justice to the parents, we will take up the issue and launch an agitation," they said. CPI corporators P. Durga Bhavani, Donepudi Sankar and others were present.

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