Bhubaneswar: The Bahanaga High School in Odisha’s Balasore district, where the bodies of the train accident victims were kept, will undergo transformation under the 5T initiative of the State Government, announced Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today.

The high school along with the primary school located on its premises will be completely demolished. The educational institution will be reconstructed as a model school under the 5T.

After being directed by the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena, 5T Secretary VK Pandian, and other concerned officials held meeting with the Balasore Collector, members of the school managing committee, panchayat representatives, teachers and students via videoconferencing to seek their opinion in this regard.

The demolition work of building of the school started this morning. The process was being carried out in the presence of school managing committee members and Works Department authorities.

The 65-year-old educational institution is located a few hundred metres away from the Bahanaga Bazar Station. On the fateful day, the bodies were kept at the school building temporarily after being recovered from the accident site. Some classrooms and a hall of the school were used to place the bodies.

The students of the school became reluctant to attend classes after summer vacation as the building had turned into a mortuary-like place, few days ago.

Though Fire Services personnel had cleaned and sanitized the blood-stained rooms, parents of the students were not willing to allow their children to go to the school. The locals alleged that the rooms still had bloodstains at some places.

Before commencement of classes after conclusion of the ongoing summer vacation, awareness programmes will be conducted for the students to eradicate their fear regarding the building. The classes will start after a puja at the school, said a member of the managing committee.

The train accident involving Coromandel Express, SMVP-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train at Bahanaga on June 2 has claimed at least 288 lives.