Bhubaneswar. The Odisha government on Friday began the demolition of the 65-year-old Bahanga High School building, which was being used temporarily to keep the bodies of those killed in the Coromandel Express accident.
The building is being demolished in the presence of School Management Committee (SMC) members and officials of the Public Works Department. The SMC had said that the school building is old and not safe, while children are also not coming to school because of the Coromandel Express. The bodies of those killed in the accident were kept there. After this it was decided to demolish the building.
The parents had also demanded the demolition of the building. Following the SMC’s decision and the request of the local people and parents, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday held a meeting with senior government officials, including the chief secretary, and approved the reconstruction of the institute. Approved the proposal to construct a model school with modern facilities including science lab and digital classrooms.
On June 2, 288 passengers were killed and over 1,200 were injured in the train accident in Odisha’s Balasore. Soon after the accident, shrouded bodies were kept in the 65-year-old school building. The School Management Committee (SMC) had initially allowed only three classrooms to keep the bodies. Later the school hall was used by the district administration to keep the bodies for identification.
Two days later, the bodies were removed from the school by the state government and shifted to various hospitals in Bhubaneswar. Officials said that so far more than 200 bodies have been identified and handed over to their relatives, but about 80 The dead bodies have neither been identified nor claimed by anyone so far. These bodies are kept in the mortuary of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar.
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