Bombed last year, school in Cachar remains in Mizoram’s custody; education, mid-day meal stay suspended

On November 7, 2020, a school was bombed in Cachar district’s Upper Painom village in Hawaithang area. The criminal act was allegedly perpetrated by the Mizo miscreants to terrorise the locals of Lailapur area. This was the second school to be bombed on the Assam-Mizoram border. 990 Dholakhal LP School happens to be the other one.

To ensure education for all, Cachar District under the Sarba Shiksha Abhiyan, established the Upper Painom LP School. When it was bombed, it was lockdown and the locals expected Assam Government to open the school as classrooms unlock. October 19, 2021, the government ordered that the schools can open but Upper Painom LP School remains shut.

The area is now, “restricted zone”. No pen or paper or young boys in school uniform, the areas is heavily guarded by armed forces. The students of this particular school will be accommodated in nearby schools is what the administration instructed, but it is yet to be executed.

According to top sources in Assam Government, the deputy commissioner of Cachar Keerthi Jalli flagged this concern but the Mizoram government reiterated that Upper Painom is in Mizoram’s jurisdiction and Cachar must not interfere. Currently, the Mizo officials and general public have access to that plot of land but no one from Assam is allowed.

“We are clueless about the future of these students and the faculties. We want to teach kids and we had started classroom education in a small room next to the School, but due to lockdown, that got disrupted. Now, it depends on the government of Assam and what the administration decides,” said the teacher of Upper Painom LP School.

It is not only education that stays disrupted, distribution of mid-day meal is derailed. If the department of education, government of Assam take up this issue is a fact that remains to be seen.

For the freshers, the school was bombed around 1:30 am at night. Reacting to the explosion, then DIG Southern Range, Assam Police, Dilip Kumar Dey had, “We have set up a border outpost in Khulicherra area inside the boundary of Assam for the deployment of Sasatra Sena Bal (SSB). The forces deployed by the Mizoram government had shown resistance while we went to inspect the area. Despite their resistance, we went ahead to set up the border outpost and my sense is that this bombing is an act of revenge.”

Not only that, demands to hand over the case to National Investigation Agency was also raised by the top officials of the Assam Government and Police. All of it seems like a lip-service now.

The attempt to terrorise the locals in Lailapur, as well as the Assam Police, continues on the Assam Mizoram border. Another school has been bombed in the state of Assam. The locals allege that the Mizo miscreants are behind the bombing again.

DIG Southern Range, Assam Police Dilip Kumar Dey has confirmed that the school has been bombed and as per Police records, the incident took place at around 1:30 am at night.