In the Union Territory of Daman and Diu, students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, which functions directly under the Human Resource Development ministry, has only one cattle trough (open tank from which cattle drink water) for bathing. This happens in winter and at a time when contagious diseases like swine flu have affected a large number of people in the state.

The cattle trough is located adjacent to the school premises.

The students scale down the wall and take bath in the open as there is no water available at the residential school for over a month now.

“It’s been a month now and there’s little water available at the hostel. So, we have no choice but to bathe at the trough,” said a class IX student from Rajasthan on condition of anonymity.

“For around a week we did not bathe. But then, we had no choice but to find an alternative,” said another boy. The students said the biggest problem for them is the winter chill. “It’s quite cold in the morning, but we have no other choice,” said a student.

There are a total of 250 students in the residential school. The water, the students said, is not available in all the wings of the hostel. The school authorities remained tight-lipped about the reasons for non-availability of water.

Principal K Shubhasini said, “Water was unavailable for some reason. The problem has now been solved.”

Following complaints by the students, the UT authorities have now initiated an inquiry in the matter.

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