Maids of MGM hostels draw water from handpump. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, Sept. 13: For the 300 students residing in two hostels of the government-run MGM College studies have taken a backseat.

They are busy chanellising their energies to fetch drinking water as hostel taps have run dry. The only pump installed to supply water has been out of order for the past four days.

“The hostel mess has stopped functioning as there is no water to cook food. Most of us are having our meals in nearby hotels. Some have been forced to go to other’s houses to take bath. Others have decided to skip bath altogether,” said a student.

The peeved boarders had gheraoed college principal D.N. Mukherjee last afternoon, demanding proper water supply. Mukherjee had assured them that he would look into the matter.

This morning public health engineering department despatched a water tanker to the hostels. But that did not end the woes of the boarders.

“Students refused to use the water since it was contaminated and unfit for consumption. The water was unsafe even for taking bath. How could it be used for drinking and cooking food?” students said.

Students lamented that studies were being hampered following the disruption of water supply. “I am a final-year student and my second-term examination is scheduled to begin from Monday. But for the past four days, I have not been able to concentrate on my studies,” said Shiv Kumar.

Another student Anupam Pandey said a similar situation had cropped up two years ago. “We had blocked the national highway for a few hours. The district and college administration immediately took note of our problem and solved it within an hour. The police forced PHED officials to rectify the fault within 24 hours. The authorities concerned must act immediately,” Pandey said.

Mukherjee said the problem of drinking water had been going on for the past 15 days, but the situation aggravated in the past four days.

“I had written to the deputy commissioner and secretaries of PHED as well as public works department. But they failed to respond. The crisis aggravated after the lone pump got out of order,” the college principal said.

Mukherjee said PHED had been given sufficient funds to install two water pumps at separate deep-boring points, but due to the lackadaisical attitude of officials the repair work has not been undertaken.

The caretaker of boys’ and girls’ hostel, U.P. Singh, also accused PHED officials for not rectifying the supply fault. He said after repeated approach to PHED, department officials turned up last evening and sent the damaged motor for repairs to a Calcutta-based workshop.