Students of one of the oldest schools of Dhanbad, which is precariously perched on the underground fire affected zone of Jharia, are being relocated to two adjoining schools for safety, but not everyone is happy about it.
As many as 440 students of Class IX and X of Raj Plus Two School of Bhagatdih have been going to Rajkiya Madhya Vidyalaya less than 2km away from July 13. But classes 1,000 students of class XI and XII would be held at Urdu Utkramit Madhya Vidyalaya, barely 500 metres from the rajkiya vidyalaya, in Bastacola from July 21.
It's a big development in the annals of Raj Plus Two School, formerly known as Jharia Raj School, established in 1866 by the erstwhile king of Jharia estate Raja Durga Prasad Singh.
Principal Fateh Hussain, who was coming to terms with the change, said the two schools hold their own classes between 6.00am and 10.30am. Hence, classes for Raj Plus Two students were being held in the second shift from 11am to 3pm.
Class X student Soni Kumari was clearly unhappy.
"I am being compelled to change two auto-rickshaws to reach the new school instead of the one I needed to take earlier. Also, the classrooms are dingy and smaller at the new school. There are no ceiling fans too," said the daughter of Rajendra Sao, a tailor of Shimla Bahal.
Her classmate Shivani Kumari said for her, the travel time to the new school had reduced as it was nearer from her home at Bhuli. "But the facilities at our old school at Bhagatdih were better," said the daughter of a car driver.
Dr D. Chakraborty, a renowned gynaecologist of Dhanbad and Raj Plus Two School batch of 1966, said the shift could have been organised better. "Ours was the best school in Dhanbad, Bokaro and Giridih with a boys' hostel. The government should have shifted it in a better manner and certainly not to two different schools," he said.
Additional district magistrate of Dhanbad Rakesh Kumar Dubey said the shift to two schools was temporary and that the local administration had asked the education department to prepare a proposal for constructing a new building of the college.
"Not only Raj Plus Two School, RSP College and the MADA water tank are also being shifted to other places because of safety reasons as the area is facing a severe threat of subsidence due to the underground fire," said Dubey, who is also rehabilitation and resettlement in-charge of Jharia Rehabilitation and Development Authority (JRDA).
The underground fire raging beneath the 10th seam of BCCL's Rajapur Colliery since 2006 is spreading towards the Raj Plus Two School and RSP College-Jharia. BCCL and Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) are taking several steps to control it spread like, for instance, using nitrogen foam and creating water barriers.
But these steps have only slowed down the spread of the fire and not halted it.
On Monday, Dubey held a meeting at the district collectorate to discuss the shift with SDO Rakesh Kumar, Jharia circle officer Kedar Nath Singh, Principal of RSP College J.M. Lugun, Rajapur Colliery project officer Vindhyanchal Singh and others.
It was agreed to shift RSP College, that is less than 500 metre from Raj Plus Two School, to BCCL Lodna area General Manager's Office at Bhaga in phases.
"Also, an unused community health centre at Baniahir is also being considered but since it requires repairs we will carry out the shifting in phases. Various faculties like arts, science, commerce may have to be shifted to different places temporarily," he said.
