Money Raining, but handpumps go dry in 205 primary schools - 9 April 2010 - Apna Bundelkhand

ApnaBundelkhand.com, New Delhi: The Centre may be giving crores to the state to ensure drinking water supply in rural areas, but students of primary schools in Bundelkhand and east Uttar Pradesh are forced to stay thirsty during school hours. Reason: The handpumps installed under the Centrally supported Rajiv Gandhi Rural Drinking Water Mission (RGRDWM) in 205 primary schools in 13 districts have gone dry.

These pumps will be re-bored after more than six months despite the Centre releasing funds for the same in October last and the districts having received the same (funds) in December 2009.

Besides ensuring that these handpumps are restored in working condition by July, the UP Jal Nigam also plans to ask the districts to explain why they have not been re-bored despite the districts having received the money.

The details pertaining to the state of these handpumps have been found through a review done by the district units of the Jal Nigam and the district drinking water committees.

The district drinking water supply committees conducted a review across 1,555 primary schools and submitted the reports to the state Jal Nigam. The districts which were reviewed were Lalitpur, Jhansi, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Banda, Chitrakoot, Varanasi, Azamgarh, Pratapgarh, Ghazipur, Ambedkar Nagar and Chandauli.

In Bundelkhand, 116 primary schools were found to have dry handpumps. While 23 of these schools are situated in the urban blocks, the other 93 are in rural areas. And all these 93 handpumps have been dry for over six months, with locals having written to the district administration at least twice.

In eastern UP too, 89 handpumps have been marked so far and the count is still on.

"The districts were already sent money for re-boring the handpumps in December last year. The handpumps in primary schools are on our priority list for re-boring or repair. We will get the matter checked and get these handpumps re-bored at the earliest,” said UP Jal Nigam managing director A K Srivastava.

These handpumps, it is learnt, were installed for a dual purpose: to serve the needs of children and provide villagers with an accessible drinking water source. Sources say a total amount of Rs 10.23 crore approximately was released to the districts in January for re-boring the handpumps. Also, the Central funds for repair and re-boring under the RGRDWM were received in October last, and were released in December.

"The first list was prepared from the complaints received so far and we are now doing physical verifications to determine the actual number,” said an official of the Ghazipur Jal Nigam.