Colonial era heritage school building demolished

A colonial-era 130-year-old building that once housed Odisha's 2nd oldest educational institution for girl students, was today razed to the ground leading to protest from heritage lovers.
The Fraser girls' school located at Old Bus stand locality of the township was a heritage building. With demolition of the of the building, a rich and glorious history is erased, said Mohammad Mustaque.
The Fraser school had come up in 1887 during colonial rule. The institution had played a pivotal role in spreading women's education in these parts of the state.
"I studied there in 1948. I still cherish the memory of school days. It really gives me a lot of pain to know that school building has been bulldozed. Authorities should have been sensitive to protect the heritage building instead of pulling it down," said an alumnus, Harapriya Devi, a retired school teacher.

The district administration, however, justified the bulldozing of colonial building by saying that it had been declared unsafe.
"We had planned to conserve the school building as it dated back to British Raj. But it was in highly endangered state," Kendrapara district collector Reghu G said.
Engineers were consulted in a last ditch effort to protect it. But the 19th century building had gone beyond conservation measures, he said.