Re-development in railway station leaves school waterlogged

CUTTACK: Waterlogging on the premises of Railway Settlement High School near Cuttack railway station has been causing inconvenience to students and staff.

The apathy of the Railways towards the issue has only made matters worse for the school. The school which was established in 1960 and has 230 students on its rolls. Besides, an Anganwadi centre also functions from the school premises. As per the sources, the school has been waterlogged for the last one week after the drainage system went kaput owing to the re-development of Cuttack railway station.

The main drain at the back of the school has been blocked by the agency carrying out the railway station re-development work. A sub-drain passing through Sai Mandir lane on the side of the school has also been blocked causing drain water to flow into the school. As if this was not enough, the stench emanating from garbage accumulated in stagnant drain has become unbearable.

“After the double-storey school building was waterlogged, while the two-room anganwadi centre has been shut down and shifted to the pandal, Classes I to V have been closed. Students of both elementary and secondary sections are now forced to attend classes in just five rooms,” said Jaleswarpur High School headmaster Asutosh Mishra who also holds additional charge of Railway Settlement High School.

He said three sides of the school have been waterlogged inundating seven classrooms. Stagnant rainwater now poses risk of dengue. Corporator of ward no 38 Subhasish Pattanaik said he brought the matter to the notice of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) which tried to discharge excess water by engaging the cesspool on Saturday but it did not yield the desired result.

While efforts to elicit a response from CMC authorities proved futile, Railway senior section engineer (works) BK Yadav said steps would be initiated for clearing the blockage and cleaning the drain.