The Bombay Housing Colony in Bapunagar which has six schools, has earned the dubious distinction of going without proper water supply for one full academic year. Leave alone drinking water, the 2,000 children attending classes daily had to go without water even in the toilets.
The original school building was badly damaged in the 2001 earthquake and one of its wings was dismantled and several years later it was rebuilt under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
The Abhiyan authorities had completed the building and handed it over to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation last year, leaving internal things like provision of water and drainage to the civic body.
But rather than providing for a proper drainage to the school building and constructing an underground tank for water, all the AMC did was to dig a catch-pit for drainage of toilet blocks and install a pair of readymade water tanks on the roof. These tanks were connected with the toilet blocks and water closets in each floor through PVC pipes.
But as there was no provision for raising water to the overhead tanks, the students had to go without drinking and attend nature’s call at their houses nearby.
As of now, the staff is demanding for a borewell on the premises so that water can be pumped into the overhead tanks.
School board chairman Jaiprakash Desai said while there already exists an underground tank, but the staff is opposed to filling it with water. “They fear children might fall into the underground tanks,” he said. He, however, ruled out digging a bore-well on the school premises saying that the staff could not dictate terms like that. He said the AMC should repair the pipelines so that the water pressure is improved.
He, nevertheless, admitted that the problem of water supply did exist and that children were suffering. He said the authorities tried to ease the situation by supply water through tankers.
On his part, Deputy Municipal Commissioner T G Jhalawadia said he was unaware of the problem, adding that no such complaint had reached him.
“If they approach us, we will definitely do the needful to solve the problem,” he said.
Source: expressindia.com
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