The kids were sleeping at the government-aided boarding school at the time The plaster of a ceiling at a gov ernment-aided adivasi ash ram school located at Chik hale village in Panvel taluka, Raigad, came crashing down on boarders who were sleeping in the dining hall, injuring eight of them early on Thursday morning reports Mumbai Mirror.
Image Courtesy: Mumbai Mirror
The reports say that the students belonged to varying age groups studying in class I to X. One of them, Dinesh Avate, a class VII student, sustained a fracture in his hand in the incident.Primary section students use the the dining hall for sleeping, while the elders are given a separate area.
All the students were rushed to the MGM hospital in Kalamboli, where they received treatment for their injuries. They were discharged in the evenning, senior inspector Maloji Shinde from the Panvel taluka police station told Mirror.
“The children were sleeping in the dining-cum-celebrations hall. These eight students were sleeping directly under the portion which fell. It is an unfortunate accident. We have taken a se rious note of it. The police have recorded the statements of all the staff members,“ Vijay Ramchandra Lokhande, president of Pune-based Institute of Cultural Affairs in India (ICAI), which runs the school, told Mirror.
Officials of the Tribal Development department came to the school to inquire into the incident. “They felt the superintendent was negligent in not informing me if the school needed any repairs. The students will be going home for the Diwali break. The repair work will be carried out during Diwali,“ Lokhande said.
The police have not registered a case so far. “We will decide after the department completes its probe,“ Shinde said.The school, established in 1989 has 543 students studying in class I to XII.