Barbil: Demanding restoration of free bus service to school children, hundreds of students of Jindal School here in Keonjhar district staged a sit-in protest on State Highway-10 at Serenda in Keonjhar district Saturday morning, disrupting traffic.
Guardians of the children also extended support and joined in the stir. The agitating students raised slogans and demanded immediate restoration of free bus service that was earlier provided to the students by Mesco Steel.
“Earlier around 300 children used to go to school by free buses provided by the Mesco Steel. However, with the withdrawal of the free bus service, we are facing a lot of problems in reaching our school. Some have even stopped going to school,” an agitating student said.
According to sources, Mesco Steel used to provide free bus services to the students of Jindal school. However, due to nonfunctional of the mines, the company withdrew the bus service since the reopening of the school after summer vacation.
Notably, Jindal school has its own buses, which ply daily through Serenda. But students and parents are demanding for free service.
On being informed, police have reached the spot and tried to pacify the agitating students and the parents. However, the agitation continued till this report came in.
PNN