Containers collapse on school building

Students and staff at the Angaragundi Government School in Baikampady had a miraculous escape on Monday, after huge containers fell on the building.

A private firm had stocked up the containers, which had arrived from the New Mangalore Port to the site adjacent to that of the government higher primary school many years ago. The containers had been stacked up in a precarious manner and have accidentally fallen on the school building.

The incident has damaged the wall of the school building. The compound wall of the school has also been damaged completely.

Manjula, Mangaluru North block education officer, and Purushotham Chitrapura, corporator, visited the spot. They have reportedly taken the firm’s manager to task for stocking the huge containers adjacent to the school.

As the news of the containers collapsing on the school spread, many parents began rushing to the school and were heard shouting expletives against the firm.

The damage would have been greater had the containers collapsed during school hours, the parents pointed out.

The local residents urged the authorities to suspend the permits of the firm that had stacked up the containers on the vacant land adjacent to the school.

Sources in the Department of Education told DH that the firm’s manager has promised to get the wall of the school building and its compound wall repaired. School headmistress Ravikala Shetty has filed a complaint at the Panambur Police Station.