MP girl students walk 2 km to defecate

Bhopal: Warden of a residential school for girls in a Madhya Pradesh village has become an unwilling promoter of open defecation.

For, the inmates of the residential school for girls in Madiyado under Batiyagarh tehsil of Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh have no other options but to visit the nearby jungle to relieve themselves every morning since the toilets in their hostel have been rendered useless owing to shortage of water.

The lone bore well in the hostel has become dysfunctional with water table in the area going down very deep.

It has become a daily routine for warden of the residential school Kanti Ahirwar to gather all the 100 girl inmates of the hostel, from Class 6 to 12, in the schoo ground every morning and then herd them to a small water body, nearly 2 km away, where they defecate and bathe besides washing their clothes.

“I have been accompanying the girls to the water body every morning for the past one month since water shortage in the hostel has rendered the toilets useless. I have drawn the notice of the district administration as well as the local authorities of Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan, a Central government body, to the plight of the girls of the hostel, but my pleas to solve the water problem in the hostel have so far gone unheeded,” she said on Friday.

The hostel authorities could arrange only drinking water for the inmates.

Damoh district collector Srinivas Sharma said he has ordered the officials concerned to dig a bore well in the hostel after the issue was drawn to his notice.

People in water scarce villages in rural Madhya Pradesh have been forced to depend on water bodies from away from their habitations during summer months.