1,600 Oshiwara school kids don’t get even a drop of water to drink

Representational picture

At a time when one-third of Maharashtra is reeling under one of the worst droughts in the last one century, more than 1,600 students studying in six different municipal schools at Oshiwara are deprived of potable water. Ironically, the schools were provided water tankers on two occasions, but they had to be returned as the school gate was too small for the tankers to enter.

Also, the schools can’t store water in water tanks as the motor used to fill the tanks have been lying dysfunctional since 2014.

According to a member of the BMC’s education committee, the civic body is ignoring such a serious issue. He said that students studying in these municipal schools come from families with poor economic background, and these kids can’t buy water. They mostly rely on the school for drinking water.

To make matter worse, there is no water on school toilets too, and students are forced to use public toilets outside the school premises.

Meanwhile, Pallavi Darade, the additional municipal commissioner of the BMC, has now ensured that alternate arrangements will be made as soon as possible to ensure that students don’t suffer anymore.