2 years on, students still deprived of potable water in govt college

Anirudh Gupta
Ferozepur, May 20

Over 1,000-odd students, who walk hundreds of km daily to get higher education, are bearing the brunt of government apathy.

The students studying in Punjab University Constituent College, which started functioning in this border town two years ago, still have “no access” to potable water.

Though the work on the construction of this college was completed years back, the department concerned is yet to provide regular water connection due to which the students are deprived of drinking water, which has even invited wrath from their parents.

The college authorities have already sent reminders for the same and taken up the matter with higher authorities, but in vain.

“We find it extremely difficult to manage the potable water requirements of thousands of students,” said Rajiv Kumar, Assistant Professor in political science department, who is officiating as principal in absence of any regular appointment.

Even though the college has several budding sportsmen, the playground is dotted with wild growth of grass and potholes. The construction equipment has still not been removed from the playground, which poses lurking danger to students’ safety.

Moreover, there are no laboratories or computers to provide the much-needed “digital edge” to the students. Contractor Sushil Kumar said, “The work is complete from my side.” About drinking water, he said the matter was under consideration of the department concerned.

The state government in order to give impetus to higher education had sanctioned Rs 14.28 crore for construction of this college under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA). However, later the contractor was asked to finish the work in less than Rs 12 crore.

“It was planned as model degree college, but unfortunately it has nothing much to offer in terms of facilities till date,” said Kulbhushan Gautam, a retired principal.

Earlier, there was no government degree college in this border town due to which the poor and needy students were not able to pursue their dreams of higher education and eventually had to drop after gaining secondary education.

“For the past six decades, people belonging to this area had been clamouring for a government college, but even after its establishment, it has failed to fulfill the expectations of the students and their parents,” said ML Tiwari, senior citizen.

DC Chander Gaind said, “I have instructed the department concerned to provide water connectivity by the end of this month. We will look into the reason for delay in the entire process and take up the matter with the department concerned too.”

Official rues govt apathy 

• The students studying in Punjab University Constituent College, which started functioning in this border town two years ago, still have ‘no access’ to potable water.
• Rajiv Kumar, officiating principal, said, “This apathy is despite the fact that the Public Works Department has around Rs 16.5 lakh balance in its kitty out of the funds provided for the construction of this college, which can be easily utilised to provide drinking water facilities and a RO system.”