KOLHAPUR: The Satara district administration will be providing a fibre boat, life jackets and a trainer to run the boat for the eight students who have to cross the backwaters of the Koyna dam every day to reach their school.
The Bombay high court had taken sou motu cognisance of the fact that the students - six of them girls - have to cross the water body every day, and had asked the state government to intervene. The students are from the Khirkhandi village in Jawali tehsil, which is located near Shivsagar (the name of Koyna waterbody). They have been using a wooden boat, which they row themselves, to get to their school in Andhari village. They take the boat, despite being aware of the dangers of the vessel overturning, to avoid another threat - wild animals in the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve.
The Khirkhandi hamlet is located inside the core zone of the reserve and has a primary school. However, students of Classes VI and above have to go to Andhari.
After the HC's directions, officials of the Satara administration visited the village on Wednesday on a fact-finding mission. Vinay Gowda, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Satara Zilla Parishad, said, "Our team found that the eight students have to walk for 10 minutes to reach backwaters. Then they take the boat and row themselves to reach the other side. From that point, the students have to walk another hour to reach their school. The forest department had rehabilitated most families from Khirkhandi and other hamlets that are in the core zone, but few families had returned. The students are also not ready to enrol for the residential facility available."
