Fadnavis cancels Maharashtra tribal school licence after 3 girls die of snakebite
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday ordered the permanent cancellation of the licence of a government-aided residential school for tribal children in Gadchiroli district
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday ordered the permanent cancellation of the licence of a government-aided residential school for tribal children in Gadchiroli district after three girls died of snakebite there, officials said. After the incident at Japtalai village around midnight on Sunday, the state government also decided to order a third-party audit of more than 500 aided ashram, or residential, schools for tribal children across Maharashtra, they said. Read Full Story Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike gave details of the incident at a cabinet meeting in Mumbai. Fadnavis directed that the school’s licence be cancelled permanently and that the official who had recently inspected the school and submitted a favourable report despite deficiencies be suspended.
Uike questioned how Congress leader Marotrao Kowase, a former MP, could run an ashram school in a way that compromised the safety of girls. Fadnavis noted that the school had neither teachers nor a warden and lacked even basic facilities despite receiving government grants. The Chief Minister said officials should not restrict inspections to schools located along major roads and must also regularly visit those in interior areas. He also asked the chief secretary to call a meeting and put in place a comprehensive inspection mechanism for ashram schools. Sources said ministers at the meeting expressed grief over the deaths of the children and discussed the condition of aided ashram schools and ways to improve them.
Speaking to PTI, Uike said the school at Japtalai had been run by former minister of state Marotrao Kovase since 1992. Uike said 50 girls were sleeping on the hostel floor on Sunday night when a snake bit six of them, and no warden was present. He said the incident would be probed thoroughly. He added that the supervisor who visited the school once a month would be suspended for not recording the school’s condition in the visit book, and said the government would carry out a third-party audit of about 511 aided ashram schools in the state.
The action against the school and the wider audit followed the deaths of three girls in the snakebite incident, with the government saying inspections and oversight of aided ashram schools would be tightened. Ends
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