Malkangiri: While the entire nation Tuesday celebrated the 71st Independence Day with gaiety and patriotic fervour, students of two schools in Chitrakonda block in this district couldn’t hoist Tri-colours due to Maoists’ threat, a report said.
The students and teachers of Kurumanur and Papulur assembled on their school premises and took out a rally on the occasion.
However, minutes before hoisting the flags, the school authorities received a warning from a rebel outfit asking them to stop further activities.
Scared, the teachers had to cancel the remaining part of the programmes. Bowing before the demand of the ultras, they even had to break the pole, meant for flag hoisting, from the middle, it was learnt.
All the teachers as well as the students were sad following the cancelling of the programmes, the headmasters of both the schools said.
They had no option but to take the warning seriously for the safety of the students as the schools in remote and inaccessible regions lack adequate security facilities, the teachers pointed out.
Independence Day was not observed in a few more schools of the cut-off regions, it was learnt.
Earlier, the ultras had put up posters at several places including Mahupadar, Kamarpalli and Timurupalli under Mathili block asking people not to celebrate the occasion and observe it as a ‘black day’.
The governments at the Centre and the state are ‘misleading people’ with their development slogans while tribals are still poor and underdeveloped, the rebels said in the hand-written posters. PNN
