Bhubaneswar, June 11: Parents and students have accused the Central Board of Secondary Examination officials of threatening to shift its regional office from here if they continue with their protests and vandalise their properties.

However, the board officials were not available to give their version of the alleged threat.

The students and their guardians have been protesting since the Class XII results were announced on May 28, alleging discrepancies in marks. Though it began with silent protests, later it turned violent after the board gave lukewarm responses to their demands.

The parents locked the board office on May 30. Besides, one student attempted to immolate himself on June 6, but the police have foiled the bid. Twice, the demonstrators had attempted to ransack the office premises apart from going on hunger strike inside it. The students have been posting videos on social networking sites from the board office, while a number of youth groups had gone to the extreme of breaking its gates.

Several demonstrators alleged that during their informal meetings, the board officials had clearly told them that if they continued with this kind of behaviour, they would be forced to recommend shifting of the regional office from Bhubaneswar.

"We had to take extreme steps to protest, because they would not listen. They have been delaying the process very badly," said a parent.

Board officials and police personnel had earlier threatened the agitators to seize their phones and tabs and lock them inside rooms if they continued the protests.

A student, Antara Padh, said: "Since the beginning, the board has been very rude. They neither listened to us nor did they ever come out of the office to talk to us. At times, the officials even threatened us that they would hand us over to the police. Then they said they would shut down the office here. It is their duty to sort out our problems instead of running away like this."

In another development, Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangha convener Sudarsan Das said: "Yesterday, the board officials admitted that the office had recently been set up and they required co-operation from the parents and students to keep it running. They admitted that they had made mistakes. They will try to sort out the woes of students."

The authorities have deployed adequate police and fire tender in front of the office for the past few days, and the cops are also considering imposing prohibitory orders in front of the office.

"We have been asking the parents and agitating students not to hamper the board's job, but they are not listening to us. In these circumstances, we may consider enforcing prohibitory orders," said a police official. The board officials said the agitation had taken a toll on their functioning. "Despite the matter pending with the court of law, the agitating parents are putting pressure on us by sitting on a dharna in front of the office. The regional office is not only for the students of Odisha, but also for those from Bengal and Chhattisgarh. We are unable to address the problems of other students because of the agitation," said a source at the board office here.

Earlier, the board had claimed that the issue of discrepancy in marks had been "blown out of proportion". Sumita Singh, regional officer of the board's Bhubaneswar region, said the number of applicants for rechecking was less than 10 per cent. "The number of applications received is not abnormal," she had told The Telegraph.

Also, the revaluated results of 18 students, who had moved Orissa High Court, are likely to be published tomorrow although the court had directed the board to conduct the revaluation and publish results by June 10.