Flow free
DEEPA ALEXANDER
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People in Edulabad walk 20 kilometres to fetch a pot of water...
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HYDERABAD
Confucius says: Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.
At Slate — The school education centres on this philosophy. The school incorporates learning through observation, exploration, analysis and discovery followed by "understanding-based" testing. The three-year-old institution organises a bi-annual social awareness programme in the guise of field trips. According to the correspondent of the school, Amarnath Vasireddy, these activities bring the students (drawn largely from the upper and middle- classes) closer to ground realities.
To mark A.P. Formation Day, about 160 students, from Stds. III to VIII, accompanied by 20 teachers visited the village of Edulabad, in Ghatkesar mandal of Ranga Reddy district barely a stone's throw away from the river, Musi. According to the principal of the school, Meenakshi Malhotra, Edulabad was chosen to be a pilot project because of the extremely high levels of pollution in its water sources. Under the guidance of Dr. Ashwin, project coordinator, World Health Organisation, and Shankar, a social worker from the village, the children conducted a house-to-house survey of the village and its water sources and also interacted with the local children.
At a press meet later in the week the students made their findings public. According to their statistics, in Edulabad with an approximate population of 12,000, nearly 60-70 per cent of the villagers are starving. If you think this is nothing new in the Indian context, there is more. Acute drinking water shortage in the village (villagers travel 20 km. to fetch potable water), coupled with dangerous pollution levels in the Musi has left the villagers high and dry. Effluents from the chemical, leather and liquor-manufacturing units in and around Patancheru have contaminated the river, the banks and other water sources. Since the hike to the nearest water source is a long way and is possible only if a lorry is available; villagers are forced to use the Musi's water. As a result of the high incidence of fluorides, 100 per cent of the village's population suffers from fluorosis.
According to Wajahad, a student of std. VIII, the presence of zinc, lead, iron and nitrates of calcium in almost lethal doses has most children complaining of poor vision, joint pains, stomach ailments and 15-20 per cent suffering from stunted growth. Cattle and fish have also been dying in alarming numbers, affecting the two primary occupations in the village — agriculture and fishing. In a village where the sources of income are steadily depleting, treating chronically ill family members becomes a burden, he added.
Ruwayfe, a student of std. IV, said that the students had taught the villagers how to prevent dehydration by preparing a sugar-salt solution. Hashim, a student of std. VI, felt that India should lay more stress on sustainable development while Krittika emphasised on the proper disposal of industrial wastes.
The students also put up a multi-media presentation of their field study and organised an exhibition of the river-water samples along with the results of the bacteriological H2S strip test. The verdict is clear: "The samples tested do not agree with the desirable potable limits and are hence unfit for drinking."
There have already been at least two projects sanctioned by the government to clean up the river but as of yet nothing has come of it. The students hope that by publicising the issue, the government and the industries will do the needful.
Until then for the people of Edulabad, the refrain will be Julian Lennon's saltwater runs in my eyes.
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