Bombay High Court orders collector to give boats, life jackets to help villagers cross snake-infested dam reservoir

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Monday stepped in to help residents of the Bhiw Dhanora village in making their journey across the snake-infested Jaikwadi dam reservoir to reach schools and other facilities. .The Court ordered the district collector of Aurangabad to provide a proper boat with an operator and life jackets to the villagers instead of having them rely on makeshift rafts to travel across the dam's waters..A division bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and YG Khobragade passed the direction in a suo motu case they had initiated based on a newspaper report published by the Times of India on August 27.The report spoke about 15 children of the Bhiw Dhanora village who were forced to make their journey to school while sitting on thermocol sheets to travel across the Jaikwadi dam reservoir every day..Amicus curiae advocate Pushkar Shendurnikar informed the Court about the plight of these students and the residents of the village. He also undertook a visit to the area before making his submissions in the matter. After examining these findings, the Court on Monday directed the district collector to ensure the village is given a boat, ideally two boats, with specialised operators within 12 hours. The Court specified that the boats should be used by the school children for ferrying them to their schools. Before and after school hours, the boat can also be used by sick, old people, and pregnant ladies to the nearest medical facilities, the Court added."In short, this boat would be treated as a mode of transportation at all times (24x7) since nobody can predict a medical emergency in the middle of the night," the Court clarified. .The Court also appreciated the "unprecedented gesture" by the amicus Shendurnikar to visit the location and witness the challenges faced by the villagers first-hand. "We are overwhelmed by the gesture of the amicus 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. This is an unprecedented gesture of the learned advocate Shri Shendurnikar and we compliment him for the same," the Court recorded in its September 11 order. .The Court further appreciated the grit and determination shown to pursue education by the village children who the judges noted hailed from farmers' families."It is 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. 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 schools for various reasons. Despite such situation, the students as well as their parents have shown the urge and determination to pursue education for the children," the Court said. .[Read order]