Students at Mumbai school suffer as satsang goes on in auditorium

Every Saturday evening the din of devotion drowns out lectures delivered to students of Sahakar Night High School at NM Joshi MargAs devotees start congregating at the satsang organised in the school premises by the Sant Nirankari Mandal students start shifting uncomfortably in their seats bracing themselves for the loud chorus of chants and devotional songs that follow After straining to hear their teachers for a while over the clamour the students finally give upStudents say that the mandal has been taking liberties with the timings organising the satsangs on Saturday evenings Inset Pravin Dalvi a student of the school who has taken up the matter with BMC authoritiesTeachers are forced to end the classes early forcing out the students many of whom are adult learners making an extra effort to pursue their academic dreams The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has given permission to Sant Nirankari Mandal to organise a satsang in the NM Joshi Marg municipal school building on Sundays and public holidaysHowever students say that the organisation has been taking liberties with the timings organising the devotional meetups on Saturday evenings These meetups inevitably coincide with classes of Sahakar Night High school which are held in the same building According to BMCrsquos education department circular cultural or religious activities and family functions can only be held inside municipal school premises on public holidaysPravin Dalvi a student of the Std XII who has taken up the cudgels on behalf of his other disturbed classmates has lodged several complaints on the matter Speaking to midday he said ldquoBecause of the deafening sound coming from the satsang students are told to leave early Some days ago a satsang was arranged on the ground floor near the classroomsWhen I complained about this to the education officer deputy municipal commissioner for education and the civic chief the organisers only shifted the events to the firstfloor auditoriumrdquo Dalvi added ldquoI have been complaining about the violation for the past yearAfter I lodged the complaint some people tried to bribe me while some others tried to threaten me But no action has been taken till date BMCrsquoS circular clearly states that no cultural or religious functions should be held in schools when they are openrdquoOn July 21 Dalvi lodged a fresh complaint about the violation but there has been no intervention from the authorities yet The BMCrsquos circular says in no uncertain terms that the BMC can cancel permissions to organisations in the event of any violations of existing rulesA student requesting anonymity said ldquoEvery Saturday our studies suffer because of the noise coming from the satsang Usually we have classes from 7 pm to 10 pm but we have to end our classes early because of all the commotionrdquoAfter an uproar in the legislative assembly in March last year over the misuse of classrooms the BMC cracked down on the commercial use of classrooms in the city While notices have been issued thrice asking organisations to vacate around 900 classrooms very few tenants have actually done soOfficialspeakEducation Committee Chairman Vinod Shelar said ldquoI will look into it If this is happening then action must be taken Such activities are not allowed during class timingsrdquo Ramchandra Adit organiser of Sant Nirankari Mandal said ldquoWe take into consideration the classes that are held in the schoolOur satsang is carried out without causing any disturbance to anybodyrdquo Asked why the mandal was breaking the rules by organising satsang on Saturday evenings Adit replied ldquoWe have been conducting the satsang for the past 30 years and nobody has complainedrdquoDeputy Municipal Commissioner Education Sunil Dhamne said ldquoI will check if the satsang mandal has violated any rules If classes are getting affected because of them we will take action Such activities are allowed only on public holidaysrdquo