Tribal school has been exposed to chimney smoke, fly ash, factory waste Sandwiched between a rice mill and a stretch of National Highway-34, a tribal school in Murshidabad district has been perpetually exposed to chimney smoke, fly ash, stench of factory waste and filthy surroundings. Neherunagar Adibasi High School at Kalikadanga village near Palsanda crossing on NH-34 in Nabagram block of Murshidabad district is a government-aided secondary school where the academic environment has come under rising threat of pollution due to factory growth and expansion of the NH-34 nearby. Though the school authority apprehends further damage to hygiene of the school because of steady growth of its adjoining rice mill, no plan of action has yet been conceived to prevent pollution. This school with majority of tribal students coming from villages like Jarulia, Udayjol, Palsanda, Pomia, Jalukha and Bishuti of Nabagram block in Murshidabad apparently finds no way out to combat the environmental hazard faced by the students as well as the teachers and women of self-help groups engaged in midday meal programme. The threat to the school environment increased after recent land acquisition for further growth of the rice mill bridged up the distance (around 100 metres) between the school and the mill and straightaway hit the school ground. A boundary wall that stands between the mill and the school buildings has been erected by the mill authority. “We understand the risk of being exposed to factory pollution. We have decided to take up the matter with the school’s Managing Committee”, said the Teacher-in-Charge, Mr Nikhil Kumar Biswas of Neherunagar Adibasi High School. Suffering of the students took another turn when approach ways to the school literally vanished with the HCC company taking over the four-lanes for construction work on the NH-34. The construction company, now working in Public-Private-Partnership model with National Highway Authority of India, has made a subway (under NH-34) which remains dark and water-logged. A visit to the site at NH-34 adjoining the co-education school revealed that some boulders dumped inside the water-logged tunnel to make it accessible to students have made things more difficult. “Our students run the risk of breaking their legs if they use the subway. They may slip easily across the unruly boulders in subway that has been left incomplete for an indefinite period”, said Mr Biswas, the TIC. The slice of land between the NH-34 and the entry gate of the school has made room for either marshes or heaps of stone chips and garbage but no road worthy of human use. This is probably the only school that has no road leading to the school entrance. Even the paddle-van carrying material like fuel, rice-bags, loads of vegetables meant for mid-day meal cannot reach the school. The teachers and the female cooks of self-help groups have to carry the items on head from where the vans unload, a point far away from school. A building with five rooms along the Highway had to be demolished recently due to the N-H widening work. Though a new building was constructed with funds paid by the Highway authority as compensation, it proved to be a compromise with hygiene as the new construction came closer to the rice mill, informed the school officials. The students lost their scope to play as the ground remains waterlogged due to lack of drainage around. The factory work is in progress and things are going to worsen soon after the new parts of the factory adjoining the school start operating, said Mr Baburam Besra, an assistant teacher. Bapi Hembram, a student of class X, alleged that the bad smell from the rice boiler often gushes through the school. The stench of rotten paddy coming from the rice mill kills all the attention, said Latika Tudu of standard-VIII. Another student of the school, Naiky Mardi informed that chimney smoke and fly ash also make the school premises very dirty. The school, running since 1971, was recognized by the state government in 1986 while the rice mill came up much later.