Water woes for hostel as administration alleges foul play

The Sarpanch of Lasundra village, yesterday, dictated the President of Pathshala Hostel to withdraw their motor from a nearby well yesterday. Juin Dutta, President of the hostel, alleged that the cut-off in water supply has been due to their FIR against a village resident for molesting a minor from their hostel.

In the captured videos, the Sarpanch can be seen directing the hostel administration to remove their motor from the village well. Juin Dutta said, “The motor had been functional since 2017. However, the Sarpanch came to remove the motor when we filed a case of molestation against one of the village dwellers.”

The case that Juin Dutta refers to is the alleged molestation of an eight-year-old girl by one of the employees at a hair salon in Lasundra village. The hostel administration had filed an FIR against the accused on March 20 at the Bhadarva Police Station, citing the same.

According to Juin Dutta, the Panchayat Committee had come to their doorsteps the next day to plead withdrawal of the complaint. As described by her, “Later, the Sarpanch made our security guard remove the existing motor. After multiple futile attempts to reach the Taluka Development Officer, the Sarpanch, the police station, and the collector for help, we decided to restore our motor to meet the demand in the hostel.” The hostel administration had paid Rs.5,25,000 to the Panchayat to have access to water from the well and avail other services in the village. Yet, after altercations with the Sarpanch, wherein the Sarpanch reiterated that no permission had been taken to install the motor, the motor was removed again yesterday.

Sameer Vohra, Sarpanch of the village, said that the molestation case is already in the court of law, and removal of the motor had nothing to with it. To counter the allegations, he said, “There is an acute shortage of water in the village; I cannot allow fresh water from the well to be used for futile activities like gardening and washing of clothes in the hostel.” He added that he is willing to provide drinking water, as per need, to the hostel. However, the hostel administration said that to assist the village, they would willingly cut their water consumption and only draw water once in three days.

The Pathshala hostel is an NGO that fosters and educates students from all across India. Hence, the hostel administration also showed concerns regarding the students in the hostel. With one student testing positive in the hostel, a Reuters journalist actively following the story, Anupriya Chatterjee, believes that a cut-off in water supply could possibly lead to precarious situations ahead. The administration has also written a letter to Shalini Agarawal, Collector, Vadodara in this regard.