Paralakhemundi/Mohana: Around 29 girl students of a state-run residential high school in Gajapati district, who had fled from their hostel early Sunday, were rescued after 18 hours Sunday night, officials said.
A team of district officials and the police rescued the girls from an abandoned hut located in a forest near Tankilipadar in Chandragiri at 12 pm Sunday night during a search.
The girls were found to have food and blankets inside the hut. This has raised doubts about the involvement of outsiders in their disappearance.
After the rescue the girls were provided shelter at the Kanyashram in Chandragiri for the night, and were shifted to their school Monday under the watchful eyes of the police and district officials.
All the 29 girls of the Government Girls High School managed by the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Department in the Antaraba village of Mohana block in Gajapati district had fled from their school Sunday morning and were not traceable for 18 hours, the officials said.
The girls returned to the school Monday. The District Welfare Officer (DWO) of Gajapati district, Santosh Kumar Rath, said the students were rescued from a hut near Tikilipadar village and were brought back to the high school. They were later taken to their hostels.
He added that the administration will hold an inquiry into the incident and action will be taken against those found guilty.
Rath said a preliminary probe indicates that the girls had fled the school hostel due to differences between them, Headmaster Manoj Kumar Rath and some teachers over the delay in Republic Day celebrations Saturday.
Angered by the development, the girls called a meeting in the evening and decided to inform the matter to the Collector and the District Social Welfare Officer.
Later, all the 29 girls fled their hostel in the wee hours of Sunday. Police said the girls were located by tracking the mobile phone of one of them.
The girls while leaving their hostel had pasted a poster on the Kanyashram wall Sunday morning. “We are going to meet the Collector to get our long standing problems solved,” the poster said.
The Kanyashram and the district administration launched a search at several places, but failed to find the girls.
Collector Anupam Shah visited the school to take stock of the situation Sunday afternoon. Anupam and SP Amulya Kumar Das had said that all police stations have been alerted and the girls would be found soon.
They immediately informed Mohana BDO Banshidhar Khosla and Welfare Extension Officer Ranjan Jena. Both the officers reached the hostel. The officers also visited the houses of girls. But the students had neither reached their houses nor met the Collector.
The Headmaster had said that some students had fled the hostel last month due to problems and lack of coordination between teachers. That could be the reason for the students leaving now too, he pointed out.
PNN
