Bhubaneswar, April 5: Local residents in Dumduma area today closed an upper primary school after they found irregularities in the midday meal scheme. The residents even detained the school headmaster and higher authorities demanding prompt action against the erring teacher.

Tension gripped the area as the local councillor and the residents scuffled over the matter. Police detained five persons from both sides. Sources said both the parties were in discussions to settle the matter amicably. The district inspector of schools, Khurda, today said the headmaster had been suspended after they found irregularities in the scheme.

Sanjib Das, a local resident said early this morning he saw the midday meal items were being transferred to a room around 100 metres away from the Dumduma Housing Board Project Upper Primary School.

“The materials were taken into the school and then these were moved out of the campus in the same vehicle. When we asked people of the self-help group (SHG), who were entrusted with the duty of cooking the food, they did not answer us. We even asked the school headmaster but his explanations were vague,” said Das.

Within a few minutes the local residents gathered there. As the headmaster was reluctant to give information about the midday meal, the residents detained him and people from the SHG group. Later, the higher authorities including the circle inspector and district inspector of schools rushed to the spot.

“The authorities assured us that they would take action. They verified the documents and found irregularities in the scheme. However, some of the local residents wanted a written assurance from the officials. In the meantime, local councillor Kartik Sundaray, who had reached the spot, started assaulting some of the youths,” said Rebati Nayak, a local resident.

However, Sundaray denied the allegation, adding that he was manhandled by some of the residents when he tried to stop them from assaulting the government officials who had come to verify the matter following complaints.

“When these people wanted a written statement from the district inspector and detained them all, I tried to stop them. I just pushed some of them to save these officials, but they assaulted me,” Sundaray said.

Later, the Khandagiri police rushed to the spot and took all those involved in the incident to the police station. Both Sundaray and Das lodged complaints against each other. However, later in the evening they held a discussion to settle the matter amicably.

“It was found to be a scuffle between two political rivals. Now, they are trying to settle the matter amicably. But we have not got any complaint regarding the midday meal irregularity,” said a senior police officer.

Sumant Kumar Sahu, the district inspector of schools, Khurda, said after he got the information about the irregularities, he rushed to the school. “We have seized some documents that show irregularities. The headmaster, Nityanand Das, has been suspended,” said Sahu.