Adivasi students deprived of water due to contractor - Times of India news

Adivasi students deprived of water due to contractor

TO Abraham TNN Yavatmal: 

Village Mangrul Chavhal of Nandgaon Khandeshwar (Amravati dis- trict) has been deprived of potable drin- king water, thanks to the contractor of Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg (Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway) currently under construction. There is a big well on a two-acre land which belongs to the Adivasi Fase Pardhi Sudhar Samiti which is running a school for the community since 2011. The water from the well was used to ca- ter to the daily needs of the students and employees of the school. However, on the night of January 4, labourers of the const- UNITY IS STRENGTH: A memorandum was submitted to the tehsildar for action against the Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg contractor INHUMAN ACT community, Matin Bhosale, said that though they are Indian citizens by birth, they are deprived of any facility made available by the Centre as well as the sta- te. "We have no identity cards, we have ruction company reached the spot with JCB and tried to dump murrum into the well to sealit. Alertemployees of thescho- olrushed to the welland protested against the action. "We shall jump into the well no education, we are denied constitutio- and commit suicide and then, you may fill up the well," they told the construction workers around midnight. When workers of the contractor found that the school employees wvere unrelen- ting, they slowly withdrew from the site. Around 60-70 litres of diesel thrown into the well contaminated the water. On Janu- ary 5, a delegation of women from the vil- lage under the leadership of Ratisha Ma- tin Bhosale met the tehsildar and submit- ted a memorandum to be forwarded to the district collector of Amravati to ensure justice to the aggrieved. Students have be- lic address. They promised to provide us en rendered waterless since January 4. Leading light of the Fase Pardhi nal protection and are often implicated in false criminal cases," said Bhosale, adding, he has played an important role to ensure education to the Fase Pardhi community students and Prashnachin- na Adivasi Fase Pardhi Ashram Shala. "During PM Narendra Modi's visit to Pandharkawda before the general élec- tions, we had undertaken a 40-km rally on foot to the venue which was well atten- ded by the community members from all over Vidarbha. We were stopped by bu- reaucrats 5km away from the PM's pub- constitutional protection but nothing is being done,"lamented Bhosale.