CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: Prajakta Kale, barely 11, and 15 of her schoolmates need to take flimsy rafts and fight off water snakes to make it to school every day across the reservoir of one of Maharashtra’s largest dams, making their parents wonder in Chandrayaan-3’s glory season if demanding a bridge for their hamlet is asking for the moon.
Prajakta and the others from Bhiw Dhanora village of Aurangabad district make the daring journey every day, perched on a thick thermocol sheet and using makeshift oars to cross the kilometre-long stretch of the backwaters of the Jayakwadi dam. “We carry bamboo sticks or makeshift oars to fend off water snakes that climb onto the thermocol sheet as we navigate our way,” Prajakta told TOI.
One section of the dam backwaters has cut their village into two sections. This has not happened recently: the situation has remained the same for 47 years, when the dam was built. Yet, no solution has been worked out.
“I do not want my children to remain illiterate like me. So, my daughter and son use the thermocol sheets to get to school. It becomes daunting due to the presence of venomous snakes in the water,” Prajakta’s father Vishnu Kale said.
Headmaster Rajendra Khemnar confirmed the students’ treacherous trip. “I began working here a few months ago but have heard from teachers that for years, irrespective of the weather, children have been regularly attending school,” Khemnar said.
Located 40km from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, the village is barely 5km from the zippy Aurangabad-Pune highway. The village is surrounded by the Jayakwadi dam backwaters and Shivna river on three sides. The land on the remaining side has the Lahuki river. This river does not have a bridge, leaving the villagers with little choice. This means that if the students don’t row across the backwaters, they have to take a 25km walk through muddy land.
The villagers want a bridge over the Lahuki. Village sarpanch Savita Chavan said the issue has been taken up with the district administration. “We are awaiting a decision,” she said.
Local Gangapur tehsildar Satish Soni visited the area and “prepared a report”. “At the time of the construction of the Jayakwadi dam, the entire village was rehabilitated. Seven to eight families wanted to reside in their farms. As a result, their children are compelled to daily navigate through the backwaters,” Soni said.
Some of the villagers contested the tehsildar’s statement, saying the plots were allotted to them under a rehabilitation scheme but there were no official records. The problem has been discussed in the Maharashtra assembly, too. MLC Satish Chavan raised the issue. In his reply, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the village “gets divided during monsoon due to the increased water levels”.
Prajakta and the others from Bhiw Dhanora village of Aurangabad district make the daring journey every day, perched on a thick thermocol sheet and using makeshift oars to cross the kilometre-long stretch of the backwaters of the Jayakwadi dam. “We carry bamboo sticks or makeshift oars to fend off water snakes that climb onto the thermocol sheet as we navigate our way,” Prajakta told TOI.
One section of the dam backwaters has cut their village into two sections. This has not happened recently: the situation has remained the same for 47 years, when the dam was built. Yet, no solution has been worked out.
“I do not want my children to remain illiterate like me. So, my daughter and son use the thermocol sheets to get to school. It becomes daunting due to the presence of venomous snakes in the water,” Prajakta’s father Vishnu Kale said.
Headmaster Rajendra Khemnar confirmed the students’ treacherous trip. “I began working here a few months ago but have heard from teachers that for years, irrespective of the weather, children have been regularly attending school,” Khemnar said.
Located 40km from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, the village is barely 5km from the zippy Aurangabad-Pune highway. The village is surrounded by the Jayakwadi dam backwaters and Shivna river on three sides. The land on the remaining side has the Lahuki river. This river does not have a bridge, leaving the villagers with little choice. This means that if the students don’t row across the backwaters, they have to take a 25km walk through muddy land.
The villagers want a bridge over the Lahuki. Village sarpanch Savita Chavan said the issue has been taken up with the district administration. “We are awaiting a decision,” she said.
Local Gangapur tehsildar Satish Soni visited the area and “prepared a report”. “At the time of the construction of the Jayakwadi dam, the entire village was rehabilitated. Seven to eight families wanted to reside in their farms. As a result, their children are compelled to daily navigate through the backwaters,” Soni said.
Some of the villagers contested the tehsildar’s statement, saying the plots were allotted to them under a rehabilitation scheme but there were no official records. The problem has been discussed in the Maharashtra assembly, too. MLC Satish Chavan raised the issue. In his reply, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the village “gets divided during monsoon due to the increased water levels”.