Armed policemen have been posted at Balitutha Primary School for the past two-and-half-years to maintain law and order in nearby areas. Telegraph picture

Paradip, May 25: A government-run primary school near the Posco steel plant project area has come under judicial scrutiny as it has been occupied by armed policemen for the last two-and-half-years.

The policemen have taken partial possession of the school building for maintenance of law and order in the villages coming under the proposed steel plant area. With the project facing resistance from local people, the government has deployed heavy police personnel in and around the area.

Local residents had sought the high court’s intervention while stating that the presence of police was adversely affecting academic activities.

“The high court has asked for a status report on whether the policemen are still in occupation of the school building. The court has also served showcause notices to the inspector-general of police (law and order) and the Jagatsinghpur superintendent of police while asking them to reply through counter affidavit on the measures initiated to make the school premises from police occupation,” said Sujata Jena, counsel for the petitioners.

The government-run Balitutha Primary School has become home to armed constabulary. The civil and police administration preferred to house the armed police at the particular school building because of the strategic location of the school building. Balitutha is considered as the entry point for the Posco project.

The place has witnessed several resistance movements in the past necessitating police deployment at the spot.

Irked at the permanent presence of police in the school, four guardians, Rabindra Nath Behera, Hatu Sahu, Nuri Rana and Bangali Sethy, had sought the high court’s intervention by stating that classroom teaching has taken a backseat following police presence in the school building. The school has virtually turned into a police barrack. As a result, their wards were unable to concentrate on classroom teaching, the petitioners had stated.

The Right to Compulsory and Free Education Act, 2009, has made it mandatory to provide necessary infrastructure and logistic support so that no child within the 6-14 year age-group is deprived of the right to education.

“On the contrary, the Jagatsinghpur district administration is literally snatching the available infrastructure for primary education in the name of maintenance of law and order,” the petition maintained. Citing instances of the apex court’s ruling on similar occupation of school buildings in Maoist-infested Dantewada region in Chhattisgarh, the petition stated that the act on part of the police in occupying Balitutha Primary School building is “out and out unlawful”.