The deserted Hatigaon-Belpara LP School. Telegraph picture

Guwahati, June 12: The Goalpara district administration today stepped in to resume midday meals at Hatigaon-Belpara lower primary school that had stopped after the abduction of headmaster Kames-hwar Rabha by suspected GNLA militants on May 13.

The move comes four days after The Telegraph highlighted that grocery supplies to the school had been stopped as a bill of Rs 200 was pending since Rabha’s abduction.

Goalpara deputy commissioner Pritom Saikia told this correspondent this evening that he had instructed his officials to visit the school to resume the midday meals.

“I have asked officials to form a committee with the help of villagers and do everything to resume food supply to the school within three to four days. I will speak to the supply department to make sure that food supplies to the school resume as early as possible,” he said.

Hopefully, resumption of the midday meal will see the return of students who had stopped coming to school when the kitchen closed shop.

The school’s cook Nuni Rabha had told The Telegraph on June 6 that midday meals had to be stopped two weeks after the headmaster’s abduction as she did not have cooking oil and salt in the kitchen to prepare food for the children. “I have rice and dal in stock, but how can I cook without oil and salt?” she asked.

“Sir used to pay the grocery bill on a weekly basis. Now the grocer has stopped supplies as Rs 200 is pending. I could have paid the shop but I have not received my salary in a year,” she added.

Farmers and daily wage earners make up most of the residents at Hatigaon, Belpara, Gendabari and other nearby villages, which have witnessed trouble because of increasing activities of GNLA militants. These villages where Hatigaon-Belpara primary school is located, are about 3km from Meghalaya, where the GNLA is active.

Classes are also not regular as Nunika Rabha, a lady teacher engaged by the villagers to lend a helping hand to the principal, is unable to control the children. “I have been here only a month and the children just don’t listen to me,” she said.

Kameshwar’s son Pratap told this correspondent over phone that the situation in the school was unchanged as there was no news of his father’s whereabouts. “We have received no reply from police. Although I have not visited the school, I have come to know that the cook is unable to resume midday meals as the grocer’s bill is yet to be cleared,” he said.

Rabha, 55, and Sorit Rabha, an honorary teacher of Gendabari School, were kidnapped while they were returning from census duty at Dawaguri village, 2km from their home and around 2km from Meghalaya, on a motorcycle.

The deputy commissioner said those behind the abduction had been identified and some arrests had been made.

“Both army and the police are carrying out joint operations in search of the teachers. We have to be very cautious as the two teachers are in the captivity of the kidnappers.”