What was meant to be a routine cleanliness drive at a primary school at Dhangarwada in Keri-Sattari turned tense on Sunday, following verbal clashes between two groups over ownership of land.
According to sources, a cleanliness drive was organised at many places to commemorate Gandhi Jayanti and as part of this occasion, a cleanliness campaign was organised by the school management, PTA and parents of the school in the institute’s premises.
Just as the campaign got under in the school, a resident, Navjivan Mainkar, objected to the activity and claimed ownership of the land on which the school has been built.
The school management, the PTA and others tried to pacify Mainkar, but he was in no mood to listen to them.
As the tension began to escalate, the Valpoi police was notified and a police team rushed to the site to defuse the situation.
Mainkar continued to maintain that the land belonged to him and he was opposed to the cleanliness drive by the school especially when there has been a dispute over land ownership for many years.
On the other hand, parents who were present at the site claimed that the school was in possession of the land for many years and there was no need to seek any permission to undertake a cleanliness campaign within the school.
Parents say that schoolchildren are made to suffer on account of such interferences in activities and demanded that Poriem MLA Deviya Rane intervene in the matter and resolve the situation.
