School still awaiting water supply

Its scarcity had forced 120 tribal students to leave school

A scheme for supplying drinking water to the Model Residential School at Pattuvam here run by the Scheduled Caste Development Department is yet to be operational, though the work, including digging of an open well, construction of a pump house, and laying of the pipeline, is nearly complete.

Drinking water scarcity experienced by the 400-odd students of the school, located in an area that faces acute drinking water shortage, was brought to light last year when 120 tribal students left the school citing shortage of drinking water.

Officials of the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) here promised then that a comprehensive scheme for ensuring drinking water for the school would be operational in a month. Nearly eight months have passed since then, but that assurance remains unfulfilled.

Delay

The ITDP officials, when contacted, said though the work was almost over, there was delay in inviting tenders for installing the pump set for the scheme. If the tenders had been invited when the work on the pump house and pipeline laying were in progress, the scheme would have been operational by now, they said.

The open well has been dug in a nearby plot. The work on fixing 20-odd water taps inside the school campus had to be completed, the officials said.