Dhenkanal: The celebration of Saraswati Puja in a school in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district ended on a violent note as two girls went on a rampage in the campus and broke the idol on Thursday.
According to sources, the students and teachers of Government Rehabilitaion Colony Upper Primary School at Kntapal under Kankadahada police limits in the district had made all arrangements to celebrate the Saraswati Puja.
The students in their new dresses had turned up in good number to offer puja to the Goddess of Learning in the school. They had created a beautifully decorated tableau and placed the idol on a dais. The priest also started the rituals and yajna amid recitation of the hymns for the puja.
Meanwhile, two young sisters rushed into the puja room and told the students to go out. They ransacked place and threw the puja materials outside. They also took Saraswati idol to school verandah and smashed it. They vandalised the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the premises and set fire to the school signboard.
Headmaster of the school Premanand Mahant told the media persons that while he was outside the school, some students rushed to him to inform about the two girls’ violent action. Mahant went to the spot and asked the sisters to leave the campus.
“On January 21 also, the two sisters had created disturbance in the school. We had lodged a complaint with the police in this regard,” he added.
The sources said the two sisters claimed that the plot of land where the school is stands belongs to their father Tanguru Sahu. The government had constructed the school without paying compensation to their family. They wanted the land to be restored to their family.
Meanwhile, the police took the two girls from the school and detained them for questioning.
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