Headmaster of school that mourned Vajpayee’s ‘death’ suspended

Odisha Sun Times Bureau/IANS
Bhubaneswar, Sep 14:

A school headmaster in Odisha who ordered his staff to organise a condolence meeting to mourn Atal Bihari Vajpayee after getting misleading news that the former Prime Minister had ‘died’ was suspended and a probe ordered into the faux pas by authorities on Monday.

The suspended headmaster was Kamlakanta Das of Budakhunta UGME School.

“After an inquiry, we found that the school headmaster had asked his staff to pay homage to the former prime minister on Friday after he received misleading information about the death of Vajpayee,” said district education officer Hrushikesh Tandi.

After getting misleading information, the headmaster, who was participating in a training programme in another school, called up a teacher of the school on phone and told him organise a condolence meeting for Vajpayee and close the school for the day.

According to Tandi, a condolence meeting was held and a holiday was declared on Friday at the school to mourn the death of the former prime minister.

The district collector ordered a probe when he learnt about the episode from the locals.

Vajpayee, who was recently conferred with Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, was India’s prime minister three times and is still alive though ill.