No water, only bottles for kids

If they can't have water, let them have bottles. That's the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's solution for more than 2.5 lakh students who don't have any drinking water in their schools, which are run by the civic body. Tumbler plan

If they can't have water, let them have bottles. That's the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) solution for more than 2.5 lakh students who don't have any drinking water in their schools, which are run by the civic body.

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"A number of schools don't have water connections. Lakhs of students study in these schools and they don't have access to water. Also, there are schools where water supply is erratic and the water contaminated. So, we decided to provide students with water flasks so they can bring water from home," said Mahender Nagpal, chairman of the MCD's education committee.

At Rs 50-60 per water bottle, this will cost the MCD Rs 1.5 crore. Nagpal said he would be putting his discretionary fund of Rs 1 crore (available to him as committee chairman) into the purchase.

The committee has cleared the proposal and sent it to municipal commissioner KS Mehra for a final go-ahead.

According to the MCD, a survey was conducted to ascertain the number of schools where there is no water connection, where supply is erratic and where water is contaminated.

On the last category, Nagpal said, "We decided to provide them with water bottles to ensure they don't fall sick, as during the monsoon water-borne diseases are at their peak."

Earlier, schools without water connection were supplied through tankers.