The debris brought by the landslide to the school compound. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, June 20: A landslide allegedly triggered by poor drainage system in a hotel dumped debris and muck in the compound of Nepali Girls’ Higher Secondary School in Darjeeling, about an hour before students were to gather on the campus for assembly.

The landslide at 6.45am completely destroyed the school’s assembly shed, where students were to gather an hour later, and the muck from the hotel Camino’s septic tank entered the institution’s premises.

“On rainy days we conduct our assembly at the shed and it is by God’s grace that students escaped the disaster today,” said Aditi Biswas, the headmistress of the girls’ school.

The school, which was founded in 1890, has more than 1,700 students on its roll. “Mud and slush has also entered the school building. The entire septic tank of the hotel has crashed into the school building and the hostel,” said Biswas.

The government-aided school managed by the Church of North India has around 80 boarders. But all the boarders escaped as the rubbles fell on a different portion of the hostel.

“Our repeated complaints to the hotel authorities about the poor drainage system have been in vain. Some years ago, pine trees, too, had crashed on the school building. but luckily no one was injured even then,” said the headmistress.

Following the landslide, the school was closed today for the summer vacation and it will reopen on July 3.

“The school was to close for summer holiday after a few days. We have, however, decided to close it from today itself as it would be dangerous to open the school as more landslides could occur anytime because of the rain. Unless proper protection work is done and the slush cleared, there is no question of keeping the school open,” said Biswas.

C.B. Pradhan, owner of hotel Camino along Gandhi road, said the landslide had occurred as the school authorities had recently fell pine trees just below the hotel.

“They had felled the trees only recently and the landslide was triggered because of heavy rains. Nevertheless, we will start clearing the mud and constructing a retention wall on a war footing from tomorrow morning,” said Pradhan.

Gautam Deb, north Bengal development minister, visited the school in the evening and promised to take up the matter with the higher authorities and submit a report on the Darjeeling landslides to chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Gyanoday Niketan has also declared a two-day holiday starting from today after a pathway leading to the school was blocked by a mudslide.

“We have declared a holiday as it would be difficult for the students to cross the rubbles brought down by the mudslide. Moreover, our mid-exams are scheduled to start on Wednesday and we will combine the holidays with the study leave. By afternoon, the rubbles were cleared,” said Dhiraj Thapa, director of Gyanoday Niketan.

The hills experienced torrential rain till 8 this morning, but the sky cleared up later in the day.

Even though small mudslips have dotted the hills, no casualties have been reported so far.