Ranchi's second oldest cradle, which has spawned doctors and professors in the past, is currently wading through gross neglect.

The main approach road to Lionel Edward's Bengali Boys (LEBB) High School, near Ranchi Lake, has remained waterlogged for a month and a half now, courtesy clogged drains, but all the RMC has done is make empty promises.

To buffer inconvenience its 500-odd students are facing every day, the school has unlocked its back gate, which opens on a narrow, cemented lane, and has sought the intervention of state urban development minister C.P. Singh so that children can enjoy the privilege of coming to campus without getting their shoes wet.

S.K. Mahto, principal of the 151-year-old cradle, said theirs was a place worst hit in ward 24 during heavy rain. "The overflowing drain brings filth from Upper Bazaar, SN Ganguly Road, Lalji Hirji Road, Vishnu Gali and other places, rendering our main approach, known as Bangla School Road, unusable," he said.

The LEBB High School is government-aided and runs classes from nursery to Class X. It teaches little over 500 students from neighbouring areas such as Purani Ranchi, Hindpiri and Upper Bazaar. "Students have to take long detours nowadays. Most of them come from underprivileged backgrounds and usually walk all the way to campus. Imagine their ordeal," Mahto added.

With no immediate solution in sight, the school management has had to open the partially sealed gate on one side of the boundary wall that leads to a three-feet-wide lane.

"Some years ago, the minister (C.P. Singh) had donated some funds using which we had got the lane cemented to prevent its misuse as garbage dump. A small collapsible gate was fixed, but blocked with corrugated metal sheet from inside. It was never used until now because the lane is too narrow to be a school's approach road," the principal said.

Mayor Asha Lakra claimed she was aware of the problems being faced by the high school. "We are almost through with formalities to start work (to unclog drains). It will be done soon," she said.

Asked whether the RMC would have been prompter if the cradle was elite with children of leaders and bureaucrats on its rolls, Lakra hastily added, "It is never like that; work will be done."

The school has, meanwhile, written to urban development minister Singh for succour.

"We wrote to him last week because he has always been very kind to us. We are hoping he will order quick action," principal Mahto said.