The school was inaugurated 40 years ago in the building which is in a dilapidated condition. ``We have already taken precautions and removed all the wood and other material which could be harmful for the students,'' said school principal Vinodkumar Desai on Tuesday. Although the poor state of the century-old building is obvious to the naked eye from a distance, it escaped the attention of the VMC authorities so far.

The Nirbhayta departments functioning in the ward offices are expected to serve notices on the owners of dilapidated structures, and if necessary force the occupants to vacate the premises.

Deputy Executive Engineer N M Patel in administrative ward told Express Newsline that papers are being processed to issue notice to the school authorities.

He tried to defend the VMC saying that the notices are issued to occupants of the dilapidated structures only when there is a complaint. If the VMC issues notices without any complaint, usually problems crop up, he claims.

Executive Engineer V N Tailor, too, claims that it isn't possible to serve notices without getting complaints. He replied ``the VMC can do little'' when asked whether waiting for complaints -- rather than acting on their own -- did not defeat the purpose for which the department was set up.

City Engineer B S Trapasia admits that he comes to know of such developments only when there is some problem or else ``things are sorted out at zonal levels.''

When told that there are many dilapidated buildings here, he claimed that this was the first time that such an incident was reported in the school. ``We repair the classrooms every year and there are no reasons why such an incident should occur,'' said Desai. He added that this roof also collapsed because monkeys jumped on it. The school runs in two shifts.

``The wood used for the frames and the railings are old but it is definitely firm and the condition of the wooden logs are still firm and the students are definitely out of danger,'' said Desai. He added that the conditions of the wood and asbestos sheet which are bad have already been removed for the convenience of the students.

Meanwhile a youth organisation, Prahar has demanded an inquiry and said that the District Education Officer should institute an inquiry. Meanwhile the members of the Social and Cultural Group of Vadodara have also submitted a memorandum to the DEO in connection with the incident on Tuesday.