GURDASPUR, Aug. 27 — Nearly 400 students and 40 staff members remain stranded at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district after rising floodwaters cut off access to the boarding school, officials said Wednesday. Rescue efforts are under way but have been hampered by severely damaged roads leading to the campus.
The school, located in Daburi village along the Gurdaspur–Dorangla road, was surrounded by water from the overflowing Kiran Nullah, which locals said has not been cleaned for years. “The poor upkeep of the stream has led to dangerous accumulation of floodwater around the school,” one resident remarked.
Parents of students voiced outrage at what they described as administrative failure. “Authorities knew about the flood threat three days ago. Why were our children kept inside when a three-day holiday had already been declared for all schools in the district?” asked one parent outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
Officials acknowledged that the rescue was further delayed as senior officers were engaged in preparations for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s scheduled visit to Behrampur in the Dinanagar sub-division on Wednesday. The CM was expected to arrive by helicopter at Dinanagar before proceeding to Behrampur, which also falls under the same sub-division as Daburi.
Locals said the situation was more severe than floods witnessed in 1988, warning that water levels had risen to unprecedented levels. “This area is flood-prone. Inundation happens nearly every year, but this time it has crossed all limits,” said another villager.
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, part of a central government network of residential schools, is overseen by the Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner, who serves as its chairman. The land for the institution had originally been donated free of cost by the Daburi panchayat.
As floodwaters continued to rise, parents waited anxiously for word. “Our children are trapped, and officials seem more concerned about a political visit,” one mother said, her voice breaking.
