Balasore: The demolition of the Bahanaga Bazar High School in Balasore which was used as a temporary mortuary to accommodate the 275 dead passengers of the three-train accident in Balasore on June 2, started on Friday morning. The school is being demolished to build a new one in the presence of the Tehsildar and the local police.
According to reports, students of the school had refused to attend classes there fearing the presence of ghosts after the bodies of the train accident victims were stored there for two days before they were shifted to various hospitals.
In addition to building a new school on the premises after the demolition of the existing one, the local villagers have decided to sanctify the place. A local priest has been entrusted with this responsibility with a view to removing fear from the minds of the students before the school reopens on June 19 after the summer vacation.
The decision to demolish the school came after Balasore Collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde visited the school on Thursday and held discussions with the school management committee. He, later, sent a report along with the proposals of the school managing committee on the issue to the state government.
The decision to demolish the school has been welcomed by the Bahanaga Bazar High School managing committee, students, and guardians who said that the existing building had become very old and after storing the dead bodies of the accident victims there the environment in the area had become eerie.
