Panic gripped students and parents in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, on July 23 after several private schools received emails that schools will be blown up. The threats later turned out to be hoaxes.
As the news broke, frantic parents called schools to enquire about the safety of their children and rushed to pick them up. In some schools, students were shifted to safe places.
Taking prompt action, the bomb disposal squads along with the local police teams reached the schools and conducted extensive searches. But no such explosives were found and the classes resumed later.
Sources said that efforts are now being made to trace the IP address of the email sender, and police are also coordinating with their counterparts in other states that received similar threats. "The situation is under control,'' said a police official, according to a report by The New Indian Express.
Earlier, similar threat emails had been received by the Himachal Pradesh High Court, several sessions courts, deputy commissioners' offices office of the chief secretary and the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat. The threat reportedly came via email, consistent with a broader pattern observed nationwide, where multiple judicial complexes across India have received such threatening messages.
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As part of efforts to improve service delivery, Nizamabad District Collector T Vinay Krishna Reddy inspected schools in Thimmapur village, Morthad mandal, on Wednesday, July 23, and directed staff to follow the prescribed menu.
On Tuesday, July 22, he visited the Scheduled Caste (SC) Boys Hostel in Fort Dichpally, attended special classes for Class 10 students and assessed their academic progress.
Following a request by Principal Buddiraj, the collector also resolved the issue of hostel facilities for girls at the Government Girls Junior College, Kasab Galli, Nizamabad. Many people from the outskirts were unwilling to send their daughters to the area due to the lack of accommodation facilities.
To address this, he approved 75 seats at the Social Welfare SC Hostel in Namdevwada. Forty students have already enrolled. Admissions are open to SC girl students and will be extended to Backward Class (BC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students based on availability. The collector has reassured students and their parents that seats in the hostel would be increased next year, as per a report by The New Indian Express.
Vinay Krishna is also conducting surprise inspections at schools, health centres and PACS. He identified issues like poorly maintained bathrooms and irregular diet menus, and directed officials to address them.
