Kanpur: Every morning, around 30-40 students from hamlets under Lodhavakheda gram panchayat board ordinary boats to cross the Ganga and reach their schools in Kanpur city.On Saturday morning, however, as they stood at the banks, a police team arrived and prevented them from venturing into the swollen river.As villagers gathered and tensions rose, arrangements were made to ferry the children safely in a motorboat, with life jackets provided as a mandatory safety measure.The Ganga at Shuklaganj stood at 112.29 metres on Saturday, just 0.71 metres below the warning mark of 113 metres and 1.71 metres shy of the danger mark at 114 metres.Bathing and boating are already banned at the ghats in view of the swollen river.Villagers worry a further rise in the water level in the coming weeks could disrupt their children’s studies for the next two to three months.Panchayat head Ravi Nishad said, “Around 30-40 children from my gram panchayat cross the Ganga every day to go to school. Police stopped them on Saturday. After discussions, the children were sent wearing life jackets. But given the possibility of further rise in water levels, the administration should make permanent arrangements.”Tehsildar Vinay Kumar Dwivedi said the children were initially stopped to the absence of safety gear. “Once the children wore life jackets, they boarded the boat and went to school,” he said.On their part, villagers said they want an assurance that no child will miss school because a river swelled.
