Ranchi: The villagers razed the construction work of Eklavya Residential School under construction in Mandro Tongri located in the barn of Mandro Panchayat. The incident took place on the night of 25th January.
Dozens of people arrived here between 1 to 1.30 in the night and vandalized the RMC plant and the controller cabin of the plant. The front and rear glass of the controller cabin were damaged. Also cut the cable of RMC plant.
Apart from this, the foundation dug for construction was also leveled. According to site in-charge Rakesh Kumar, the people who vandalized the construction site also stole the gas cylinder, curing pipe, pick, shovel and trowel kept at the site. Information about the incident has been given to Narkopi police.
A group of villagers has been opposing the construction of Model Eklavya Residential School in Mandro Tongri since the beginning. Due to opposition from the villagers, MLA Shilpi Neha Tirkey, who had come to lay the foundation stone of the school on 30 November 2023, had to return without laying the foundation stone.
The MPs returned after receiving information about the protest midway. After this, an attempt was made to convince the protesting villagers, but things didn’t work out. The protesting villagers say that the villagers have been performing puja at this site for years.
Despite their opposition, construction is being done which is wrong. Many villagers said that an old Tongri lady is coming in their dreams at night and she is telling them not to allow the construction work to be done. Even in Silagai of the block, the construction work of Eklavya Residential School was strongly opposed by calling it a place of worship.
The boundary wall of the school was razed, NH was blocked thrice and then the school was transferred elsewhere. When asked about the matter, Narkopi police station in-charge Abhijeet Kumar said that no written complaint has been received yet regarding the vandalism, only verbal information has been received. The Police are investigating.