Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Tuesday ordered permanent cancellation of the licence of a government-aided residential school for tribal children in Gadchiroli after three girls died of a snakebite there. The children at the school – which was started in 1992 and has 233 students on its rolls currently – slept on mats spread on the ground. A teacher said they had been raising the issue of lack of beds with the principal. “We were told that the students would get the beds after the Pola festival (in September).” The deaths, at the school located in Japtalai village, has drawn outrage, with the Opposition raising questions over the state of tribal residential schools in Maharashtra, and the Mahayuti government announcing a third-party audit of over 500 ‘ashram’ or residential schools for tribal children in the state.