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Port Blair, Aug. 7: A recent development near Siksha Sadan, Middle Point has raised many eyebrows and has also posed a question upon the authorities concerned, ‘Will it be termed legal if govt. institutions themselves start encroaching upon public property’.

The matter was brought before Andaman Chronicle by a concerned citizen, who pointed out that the concerned authorities in the Education Department have started encroaching upon a public footpath. The footpath has been in existence since decades, and is mainly used by students of Boys School and other nearby schools to avoid vehicular traffic.

Recently the Education Department started constructing a compound wall right from the middle of the footpath, with an intention of closing it down. When this newspaper contacted the Port Blair Municipal Council, the Council said that this footpath does not come under them. Similar was the reaction of other departments concerned who disowned the decades old footpath, which has proved a blessing for tiny tots.

In such a situation wherein no department is willing to own the responsibility of the footpath, can the Education Department be allowed to encroach upon it, with an intention of closing it down?