Baripada: Fifty students have been stranded since Tuesday morning owing to excessive waterlogging around a residential high school at Dudhiani village under Karanjia block in Mayurbhanj district.
Hostel of the school had earlier accommodated 90 students, of which only 50 students were residing in view of second wave of Covid-19 outbreak. Following the deep depression-induced rain that battered the district for last couple of days, the school got waterlogged and was cut off from the remaining part of Mayurbhanj, a source said.
Also read: Odisha registers 457 new Covid-19 cases; 73 below 18 years
Construction of an irrigation project which is going on in close vicinity of the school raised the nearby land surfaces and caused blockades at several places surrounding the school hostel. As a result, rainwater did not recede leading to severe waterlogging, headmaster of Dudhiani residential school Jagamohan Mohanta said.
The contractor concerned constructed an embankment on one side of the school without information. A previously existing drainage system has become nonfunctional because of the embankment, Mohanta added.
“Our school campus and its nearby areas have been inundated. We have been stranded here for more than 48 hours and are in a state of desperation. We appeal the district administration to take immediate steps and rescue us so that we can go back home,” a student said.
Meanwhile, the local administration has taken stock of the situation and assured that the stranded students will be rescued soon.
PNN