Mayurbhanj: Students of Nuasahi Government Primary School in Rasgovindpur block of Mayurbhanj district staged a protest on Monday demanding safe drinking water for their school and village.

The agitating students, accompanied by their parents, alleged that despite repeated appeals to the authorities, no steps had been taken to provide clean drinking water. They said Nuasahi village under Amarda panchayat has not yet been covered under the Basudha drinking water supply scheme.

Villagers said there are two tube-wells in the village, but one has remained defunct for a long time, while the other yields muddy and contaminated water that is unfit for consumption. As a result, residents depend on water from an abandoned well for their daily needs and fetch drinking water from Sundarkuli village in Balasore's Basta block.

The water crisis has also severely affected the functioning of the government school, which has 41 students enrolled from Shishu Vatika to Class V. Due to the lack of water on the campus, students are forced to wash their midday meal plates in a nearby pond, which is also used for sanitation purposes, raising fears of waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

School authorities said they had repeatedly brought the matter to the attention of officials, including the Rasgovindpur Block Development Officer (BDO). They later submitted a written complaint to Morada MLA and Housing and Urban Development Minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra on April 13, but no action was taken, they claimed.

Contacted, Rasgovindpur BDO Ananta Kumar Hansdah said funds have already been sanctioned for the installation of a new tube-well at the school and assured that the work would be taken up soon.