STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: Miscreants torched 32 school buildings during the past 5 months of disturbances in Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Kashmir’s Minister of State for Education Priya Sethi said today. Among the schools torched, 14 were fully damaged and 18 partially, she said, noting police have registered cases and investigations are on. She said 47 miscreants have been arrested in connection with the torching of the schools.
Replying to a clubbed question by NC members Qaiser Jamshed Lone and Dr Bashir Ahmad Veeri in the Legislative Council, Sethi said in view of these incidents in the Valley, the divisional administration took various measures for protection of schools.
These included deployment of watch and ward staff, ‘numberdars’ (revenue officials), chowkidars, involving local Auqaf Committee and local imams and respectable persons of the society, besides regular monitoring, fire safety measures, better lighting.
Asserting that elaborate steps were taken to prevent these incidents, she said the schools were categorised into three types — normal, sensitive and hypersensitive.
She said all sensitive and hyper sensitive schools were provided round-the-clock watch and ward staff by redeploying existing manpower comprising chowkidars, orderlies. A plan was put in place by the security agencies which included patrolling around schools categorised as sensitive and hypersensitive.
She said all schools were directed to adopt fire safety measures.
Legislators Ghulam Nabi Monga raised supplementary queries to the main question.
