The Odisha government halted salaries of five teachers and issued show-cause notices to other staff after a fire at a Rayagada school injured four students. The fire started when students playing with inflammable thinner on the school roof caused flames. A departmental inquiry is underway to investigate negligence, while injured students receive medical treatment.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government halted the disbursement of salaries to five teachers and issued show-cause notices to other staffers of a state-run high school in Rayagada district in connection with a fire incident on the institute's premises, which left four students injured.

School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond told PTI that he has directed the department secretary to submit a detailed report on the incident and ordered a departmental inquiry to ascertain negligence, if any.

The students suffered burn injuries while playing around a fire during school hours on Monday.

"The department has stopped the salaries of five teachers and issued show-cause notices to other staff members in connection with the incident," he said on Tuesday.

The minister said that further action would be taken against teachers or staff if negligence in duty was established.

School and Mass Education Secretary N Thirumala Naik said three of the injured students were undergoing treatment at a hospital in Rayagada, while one critically injured student has been shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

The school headmaster had lodged a complaint at Muniguda police station on Monday. Police have recorded statements of the injured students, officials said.

According to preliminary findings, the incident occurred when a classmate of the injured students allegedly threw colour thinner, an inflammable substance, onto a fire that had been lit by the students on the school building's balcony.

Muniguda police station in-charge inspector Saudamini Behera said the students were playing on the school roof around 2 pm on Monday when they found a bottle of thinner stored there.

They allegedly poured it on the floor and set it on fire using a matchstick. One of the boys later added more thinner, causing the flames to flare up and injure four students, she said.

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