- Madhya Pradesh High Court took suo motu notice of children crossing damaged stop dam on Betwa River
- Children were seen crossing a four-foot-wide broken dam gap to shorten their journey to Paloh High School
- The safer main road is 5 km long, while the dam shortcut reduced travel to 1.5-2 km but is dangerous
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of a video in which schoolchildren were seen risking their lives by crossing a damaged stop dam on the Betwa River to reach school in the Vidisha district.
Following the High Court's intervention, Vidisha District Collector Buddhesh Kumar Vaidya visited Paloh village on Wednesday to assess the situation. He inspected the route the children used, interacted with students and villagers, and directed officials to submit a detailed report to the court.
The incident came to light after videos showed children crossing a broken portion of the stop dam with an approximately four-foot-wide gap. The route becomes even more dangerous during the rainy season due to rising water levels in the Betwa River.
The children are from Kakarua village, where schooling is available only up to Class 8. For higher secondary education, students have to travel to Paloh High School. While the safer route via the main road is available, it requires them to travel nearly 5 kilometres one way.
So, to save time and reduce the distance, many take the shortcut across the dam, reducing the one-way journey to around 1.5 to 2 kilometres. Some students also own bicycles, but they still use the dam route because it is much shorter.
Students and villagers said the problem has existed for the past five to six years. One former student said he also crossed the dam every day while studying at Paloh High School. During the four months of the monsoon, water levels often become so high that many children are unable to reach school.
Vidisha Sub-Divisional Magistrate Kshitij Sharma said the administration sent a proposal to build a temporary bridge across the river. Officials are also considering opening a new school near the affected village.
According to district officials, the issue did not receive much attention earlier because only two or three students from Kakarua village attended Paloh High School, compared with around 10 students who enrolled this year.
