The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Students’ survey points to lack of safe water

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 22, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Students’ survey points to lack of safe water

Special Correspondent

The survey was conducted in Adivasi Nagar, Anakaputhur and also at the Government Middle School.

— PHOTO: A.MURALITHARAN

SPREADING AWARENESS: Students of Madras School of Social Work performing a street-play highlighting the importance of cleanliness and safe drinking water in Anakaputhur.

TAMBARAM: It took a survey by eight students of Madras School of Social Work to remind authorities of the Anakaputhur Municipality that students of a government middle school and residents of a locality lacked access to safe and protected water.

The middle school is located right opposite the Anakaputhur municipal office. For the past one month, eight students of the institution in Egmore toured some pockets of this third-grade municipality, conducting a survey on the levels of awareness among residents of hygiene. They also studied how many of them had access to safe and protected drinking water.

The survey was conducted in Adivasi Nagar, Anakaputhur and also at the Government Middle School, where the condition of basic amenities was appalling. Nalini Rao, faculty member at the institution, said students first reached out to residents of Adivasi Nagar, telling them about the importance of cleanliness and hygiene.

They put up street plays on hygiene, giving residents simple tips on purification of water. They also told officials of Anakaputhur municipality about the problems faced by residents of Adivasi Nagar and students at the middle school.

Bharathi Kumar, municipal chairman, and elected representatives, visited Adivasi Nagar and installed a plastic water tank there and at the middle school, where students were drinking water from a tank that was dusty.

On Thursday, at the conclusion of their month-long programme, the students performed a street-play at the middle school for the benefit of school students and the general public. They also managed to find private agencies who agreed to sponsor 60 plastic drums that were distributed to families of Adivasi Nagar to store water.

Dr. Nalini Rao said the students specialised in community medicine and health, among other issues and the month-long survey and awareness programme on hygiene and sanitation was a hands-on experience in social work before they completed their postgraduation.

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