Noida: No power in 450 shools to run fans, computers

Shirish Kumar, a class VI student of a primary school in Noida, looks at the fan in his classroom and wonders when it will start working. He is amongst the thousands of children who have been studying in classrooms that do not have electricity for two years now.

Shirish Kumar, a class VI student of a primary school in Noida, looks at the fan in his classroom and wonders when it will start working.

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He is amongst the thousands of children who have been studying in classrooms that do not have electricity for two years now.

The schools are well-equipped with fans, tubelights and even computer facility, however sans electricity.

"Initially, we used to ask our teachers about the power supply, hoping it will come in an hour. Gradually, hours turned into days and days into months, but the services did not resume. It gets extremely difficult to study during summers," Kumar said.

Out of the 683 primary and upper-primary schools (class1-8th) in Gautam Budh Nagar, 450 either do not have electricity supply or their supply has been disconnected due to non-payment of bills.

"There are 148 primary schools in Jewar, a village with no power supply since years. We have written innumerous letters to the education department about our problems, but no one pays heed to them," said Ashok Kumar, secretary, Primary Teachers' Association, Gautam Budh Nagar.

"More than Rs 20 lakh is due from the schools. We have written to the state government and requested them to transfer the funds so that the problem could be solved. We are expecting a reply within 15 days, after which power supply will resume in all the schools," said Arun Kumar, Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA), Gautam Budh Nagar.

Meanwhile, the officials of the electricity department have said that supply will not be made regular till the time complete payment is done.

The schools are supplied electricity by the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) in Noida and Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) in Greater Noida.

"We are also helpless. The schools have not paid the bills from the last two years," said CL Gupta, superintending engineer, UPPCL.

"Around Rs 12 lakhs is due from the schools. Many reminders were sent to them before disconnection," said Samarjit Mohanty, spokesperson NPCL.