Orissa: Students study on road in protest

Cuttack: Protesting against the district administration's decision to use a school building as a temporary shelter for evicted slum dwellers, its students squatted on the road on Friday in protest.

Traffic on the busy Ranihat-College Square road came to a halt for over two hours as guardians of the students of the Ranihat High School sat there to study.

The students relented when District Collector Kishore Mohanty rushed to the spot and assured them that the slum dwellers would be relocated elsewhere soon.

Classes were affected since July 9 at the school, one of the oldest in the city, after slum dwellers were given shelter there following the Orissa High Court's direction to the local administration.

The High Court also directed that the people from the Maa Mangala slum, which was demolished last month, be given food and medicines.

Advertisement

"Our classes were suspended since July 9 and we were told that the school would reopen on July 16. But, when we came to the school today, we were not allowed inside. Since there was no other alternative we decided to sit on the road and study," the students said.