Haveri, 13 Jan

A locked government school in Mallur village of Byadagi taluk in the Haveri district due to a land dispute, prevented students from attending classes and forced them to sit outside under the scorching sun.

The unusual incident came to light on Monday after one Eerappa Kulkarni, son of a landlord who had donated a piece of his farmland to build the Government Urdu Higher Primary School in Mallur village, locked the school gate and left, leaving the students in the lurch.

At the root of the problem is a pending land dispute. Eerappa Kulkarni alleged that his father, Shankrappa Kulkarni, had donated around five guntas of land several years ago for the construction of the school.

He claimed that during construction, the school building encroached upon land beyond what was originally donated for the purpose. The issue of the alleged encroachment by the school has been challenged in court for several years. A litigation in this regard is currently underway.

Eerappa has been demanding the vacation of the encroached land. Exasperated by the long delay in resolving the matter by the authorities, he reportedly lost his cool and locked the school gate on Monday.

As soon as information about the incident reached the authorities, Byadagi Tahsildar Chandrashekar, Block Education Officer (BEO) S. G. Kote, and police officials rushed to the spot. The situation was brought under control, and steps were taken to ensure students’ education was not disrupted.

The officials assured that the land dispute would be examined through a survey and resolved legally. A meeting was held at the school involving villagers, the school management committee, and government officials