Five children were killed, and six critically injured, when a wall of a preschool building fell on them in Odisha’s Nayagarh district, approximately 100 km from here, on Monday.
The children were taking their midday meal in the building on the campus of the Neilia Upper Primary School under the Ranapur block when the incident occurred. The wall was made of brick and mud. There was continuous rain in the area.
“As many as 22 children attended the preschool on Monday. Three of them died on the spot. One died on the way to the hospital. One seriously injured student was referred to the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack. Most of the children sustained head injuries,” said Paresh Mishra, a Samiti Sabhya (Panchayati Raj institution representative), who accompanied the injured to the State capital.
Desperate parents brought the injured children to Capital Hospital and Sum Hospital here. An injured child breathed her last at Sum Hospital.
The scene at Capital Hospital was heart-rending. “An anganwadi centre is supposed to be the safest place after home. In this belief, we had sent our children, who were hardly able to speak, to these centres. They killed my daughter by running the anganwadi centre in the unsafe building,” said Niranjan Sahoo, father of four-year-old girl Pinki Sahoo, who died on the way to the hospital.
Chhabi Jena was inconsolable. Seeing the bleeding head of her son, Guguli Jena, all through the three-hour journey to Capital Hospital, all her confidence was shattered. When his condition deteriorated, Guguli was referred to the SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttack.
Probe to be conducted
Nayagarh District Collector Sarojkant Choudhury admitted that the anganwadi centre was being run in an unsafe building. “I don’t know who had given permission to run the centre there. We will inquire into the incident.”
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 1 lakh to the victims’ parents. He said the treatment cost would be borne by the State government.
