Nagpur: Twenty-four hours after three tribal girl students died of snakebite at an ashramshala in Gadchiroli, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis cancelled the school’s permission to run and shut govt aid. At the cabinet meet in Mumbai on Tuesday, tribal development minister Ashok Uike vowed criminal action against the institution’s trustees and an inquiry against its own officials and school staff for violations of guidelines.Two other tribal students who were bitten by the venomous snake are recovering — one is on life support at a Gadchiroli hospital and the other airlifted to Nagpur is currently stable.Co-guardian minister of Gadchiroli Ashish Jaiswal said trustees of the education society which runs the aided ashramshala will be held accountable. “The govt provides enough funds to aided schools to ensure the highest level of education and comfort to residential students, so there was no reason for such a tragedy to have occurred,” said Jaiswal.The minister, who visited the school and met family members on Monday, said “I twice spoke to the CM and he directed that the guilty should not be spared. While the inquiry is on, our focus is on giving best medical care to the survivors.”Tribal development minister Ashok Uike said his own officials are under the radar now. “We have a system in place, where an official from tribal development department visits each ashramshala at least once a month to verify that guidelines are followed. All infrastructure and facilities are checked and a spot report is tabled. An inquiry has been launched to check whether officials skipped the visits.” He added that in Tuesday’s cabinet meet, CM Fadnavis directed all departments to ensure a thorough probe. “On August 14, we will have a meeting at Gadchiroli, where fresh standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be announced,” said Uike.There are allegations that on the night of the tragedy, the principal and superintendent were missing from the residential premises. Ayushi Singh, additional tribal commissioner (Nagpur division), told reporters these charges are being investigated through an internal probe. Singh said, “As per the 2019 ashramshala code, both senior employees are required to camp at the school at night. We will submit details in our inquiry report.”
