Digapahandi: A few Matric examinees returning home after their exams Monday experienced the joy of their lives when Digapahandi tehsildar Adaitya Prasad Swain offered to drop them at their respective houses in his official vehicle.
Swain who had gone for regular visit to an examination centre at Phasiguda village under Digapahandi NAC in Ganjam district was applauded by locals for his noble gesture. In the afternoon, while on his way back home from the centre, he came across students travelling dangerously in two autos on Bhishmagiri-Nimakhandi Pentha main road.
He stopped the auto rickshaws, gave the drivers an earful for ferrying students putting their lives in harm’s way and asked the students to come to his van. Some of the students belong to Shankar Khali gaon and some Nimakhandi Pentha gaon of Khamarigaon panchayat. Swain dropped them at their respective houses.
The students said they felt excited as they had never before travelled with any government officers in their vans.
“Sir advised us to labour hard to success in our lives,” said the students thanking Swain for his act.
After dropping the students at their houses, Swani asked their parents to arrange alternative means to send their students to examination centres and schools safely, instead of sending them dangerously in autos.
He warned them that the state government has banned ferrying school students in auto rickshaws. Recently in a road mishap in Digapahandi, a student travelling in an auto rickshaw sprang out of the auto, fell on the road and died.
Incidents of students suffering minor injuries are happening on a regular basis. So the district and police administration are creating awareness people to stop sending their children in auto rickshaws.
While the villagers heaped praise on Swain for his noble gesture, the parents are at a loss thinking how to send their children to schools.
PNN