Rainwater floods school, hospital in Hisar village

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Ladwa (Hisar), July 23

Stagnant rainwater has brought life in this village to a standstill. The village school, hospital, Dalit locality and even the cremation ground are flooded with water, causing inconvenience to local residents.

Government Higher Secondary School located on the outskirts of the village is flooded and students have to wade through water to attend classes. Though rainwater has not entered classrooms, the water-logged campus has become a breeding ground of mosquitoes.

“Even snakes have been found in classrooms. Students had to kill a reptile today that had slithered into the classroom,” said a teacher, adding that students are also falling ill.

The school authorities have written to the Education Department and also asked prominent villagers to visit the school to sort out the problem. “Water diverted from village fields is entering the school and adjoining areas. The campus will remain flooded till water is soaked by the earth, as there is no outlet,” said school principal Kulbhushan Sharma.

The building of the adjoining primary health centre has been vacated as its rooms are 3 to 4 feet under water. While the staff has taken shelter in the panchayat building, material at the health centre is likely to get damaged.

The Dalit basti too is submerged as water from the village flows towards the locality. “About 70 houses in the Dalit basti are flooded and we have taken shelter elsewhere,” said Kuldeep. They had complained to the sarpanch and officials concerned visited the village yesterday, he added.

Even the village cremation ground is flooded and there are instances when bodies had to be taken in tractors to the ground for cremation.

Krishan Satrod, zila parishad member, said that stagnant water in the absence of proper drainage was a major problem in Ladwa and adjoining villages. “I have taken up the issue in the district meetings repeatedly. Finally, we will have to take recourse to an agitation, it seems,” he adds.

Village sarpanch Joginder Punia says the administration didn’t listen to his repeated requests for draining out water. “I have installed a pump set by spending money from own pocket to drain out water”.