Pitch to revive Sanskrit Toll in Baripada grows loud

BARIPADA: Brahman Mahasabha in Mayurbhanj has raised the pitch for including the Sriramchandra Bhanjdeo Sanskrit Toll at Lalbazaar in Baripada, under the 5T High School Transformation Programme, here on Saturday. They have also sent a memorandum to Bhadrak collector Vineet Bhardwaj for the purpose.

Speaking to TNIE, the socio-religious outfit’s president Mahadev Das and senior member Narottam Panigrahi said the 128-year-old Sanskrit Toll, which was built by the erstwhile Maharaja Sri Ramachandra Bhanjdeo in 1894 to develop Sanskrit language and generate scholars for the subject, is now defunct due to the negligence of the district education department and the government.

“The institution was being run by headmaster Tarasankar Mohapatra who retired in February after which it was temporarily run by another person Jaysri Nanda. The institution is now being run by district education officer Nabakishore Giri himself,” they said. The institution had an official capacity of enrolling students from Class VI to X but the non-interference of government and shortage of staff eventually led to its closure. 

“While some staffers were transferred to other government-run high schools, others have retired. Due to a lack of financial support from the government, the building has started developing cracks and the absence of a boundary wall makes it easily accessible for anti-social activities. Worse, some locals are now slowly taking over the institution’s land as the department has turned a blind eye towards it,” Das said.

He however hoped that once the Sanskrit Toll comes under the government’s 5T initiative, the vacant posts will be filled up allowing students to take admission. “Collector Vineet Bhardwaj has assured us to look into the matter soon,” Das added.