“A famous saying goes as “NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF ALL INVENTIONS”. Can anyone imagine a girl and male students above the age of seven years, preparing a thermocol sheet to keep them afloat and using bamboo sticks with plastic square pieces laced to the edges of the bamboo sticks to be used as paddles, to navigate their way through the turbulent backwaters of the Jayakwadi Dam to reach the school for taking education? “
The Bombay High Court made the above observation while hearing a Suo Motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) registered in the light of the news report published in the newspaper dated 27.08.2023 regarding problems of students going to the school by crossing the backwaters of the Jayakwadi Dam .
Village Bhiv Dhanora in Aurangabad district is barely five kilometers from the Aurangabad-Pune national highway and is surrounded by the Jayakwadi Dam backwaters, Shivna river and Lahuri river.
After going through the news and after registering the Suo Moto PIL, the Bench appointed Pushkar Shendurnikar, the Advocate, as an Amicus in this matter. He has prepared the PIL along with relevant records and documents and has placed them before the Bench.
After going into the averments set out in the PIL petition, photographs and newspaper reports placed on record, the Bench have no words to express its appreciation for the girl and male students coming from farmers’ families of the said village, who have shown their grit and determination in pursuing their education, by traveling to school from the backwaters and returning back. It is an every day’s threat to life. These children deserve compliments for undertaking such a journey twice a day for the last more than 12 months. Their plight was highlighted by the newspapers from Aurangabad .
“We all are aware of the number of girl students in schools and as these girls grow up, there is a rise in the number of dropouts from the schools for various reasons. Despite such a situation, the students as well as their parents have shown the urge and determination to pursue education for the children. “
The amicus has placed before the High Court the details about these students, who climb over the thermocol sheet (commonly called as “Chappu” in the said village) in order to float over the backwaters, which are turbulent at times.
There are girl students of 8 years of age and onwards and there are male students, who are also 9 to 10 years of age and onwards, who take education by undertaking such journeys. Their parents have lost their agricultural lands in the public project and hence, they have been displaced.
Even the pregnant ladies as well as old and sick people from the said village, have no other means, but to adopt the same method of remaining afloat and navigate through backwaters to reach the nearest land for travelling towards the medical facilities. The Amicus has rightly used the words a “treacherous journey” and “life threatening journey” for these kids as well as old, sick people and pregnant ladies , the Bench said.
The Court was overwhelmed by the gesture of the Amicus Shendurnikar, who himself has gone to the backwaters of the Jayakwadi Dam and has himself boarded the thermocol raft and has undertaken the journey along with a parent of the school going girls, for taking the first hand impression as to how treacherous is it to travel through the backwaters in order to reach the school.
“Time has come for us to pass an urgent and effective order to ensure that these students do not have to see one more day of such a treacherous journey by navigating through backwaters, keeping in view that sometimes venomous snakes climb on to the thermocol sheet and the kids have to get rid of those snakes. God forbid, if a child losses his balance and falls into the backwaters, he/she would face imminent danger of death, either by drowning or on account of snake bite”, observing above the Bench issued notice to the Respondents.
In view of the above and having considered the plight of these students and the residents of the village Bhiv Dhanora, the Aurangabad Bench of Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Y.G. Khobragade issued the following directions:-
(a) The District Collector, Aurangabad, shall forthwith ensure that these students are provided with either a proper boat with a specialized operator, who will navigate the boat through backwaters or a motorboat, if possible.
(b) Life jackets and/or rescue air tubes should also be provided/ attached to the said boats, which would ferry these students to the school during their school hours, meaning, while going to the school as per their school timings and returning back home after school hours.
(c) During other times i.e. in between school hours or before or after school hours, the boat would also be used for the sick, old people and pregnant ladies so as to reach them to the nearest medical facilities. In short, this boat would be treated as a mode of transportation at all times (24×7) since nobody can predict a medical emergency in the middle of the night.
(d) Ideally two boats shall be made available so that the boat operators can work in two or more shifts.
(e) Let the District Collector meet the people’s representatives and call upon their involvement for generation of funds in order to provide regular transportation facilities to such villagers.
The Bench expected that this order would be implemented within 12 hours, to the extent of these students, sick, old people and pregnant ladies.