Written by: Express News Service
2 min readNew DelhiApr 6, 2011 01:57 AM IST
First published on: Apr 6, 2011 at 01:57 AM IST
The Education Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has urged the Delhi government to renew its efforts for providing clean drinking water to MCD schools,35 of which have no water supply at present. Mahendra Nagpal,chairman of the Education Committee,has written a letter to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in this regard.
The MCD has 1,746 primary schools and 1,361 of them have been fitted with water purifiers. For the rest of the schools,Nagpal asked the education directors to instruct children to bring water from home as the water in the schools,provided by Delhi Jal Board (DJB) tankers,might be unsafe. A recent study by the Health department of the MCD had shown that 18 per cent of water supplied by the DJB is contaminated.
“Fifty water purifiers in (various) schools are not working at present. Students of such schools should bring water from home till the time the purifiers are fixed,” Nagpal told Newsline.
He said the MCD took note of the situation at a recent meeting.
In the letter to Dikshit,the department has also asked for regular cleaning of DJB tankers,Nagpal added. “In 36 schools where there is no water supply,water is brought in tankers,which may be contaminated and dirty. Since midday meal is provided in all schools,clean water is essential and hence the MCD,Delhi government and parents have to join in,” he added.
Meanwhile,Dikshit,who is the chairperson of the DJB,had rubbished the claim that the Jal Board’s water could be contaminated.
The MCD runs 1,746 primary schools with enrollment of more than 9 lakh children. In addition,it also runs attached nursery classes in 923 primary schools along with 33 independent nursery schools with enrollment of 50,000 children.
The civic agency also has 44 aided primary schools and 728 recognised primary schools managed by voluntary organisations.
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