Srikanth still studies in light of kerosene lamp

Alappuzha: Like many other students, Sreekanth, a Class X student, and his sister Sreelakshmi, pursuing a dialysis technician course, were till now participating in traditional face-to-face method of learning.

When their institutions closed, the siblings were supposed to continue their studies online. But the students, coming from a poor scheduled caste family in Kanjikuzhy, have not been able to attend a single

online class

till now. Reason? Their house doesn’t have electricity and they don’t have a smartphone too.

“I am very sad. My mother reminds me every day that I am in Class X and I have to take my studies seriously. We have knocked at several doors for getting a power connection,” said Sreekanth, a student of Government HSS SL Puram, Kanjikuzhy.

Sreekanth’s father Satheessan Unni, a carpenter, bought five cents to build a house from his friend in January 2019. “But I could not pay the full amount. So, the registration of the land could not be done. But my friend allowed me to build a small house and we began to stay there. After about a year, I paid the full amount. When we approached the sub-registrar office for registering the land in my name, the officials said the land had once come under revenue recovery process after my friend failed to pay a bank loan,” he said. Though the loan was cleared, they haven’t still received a certificate from the taluk office excluding the land from revenue recovery process, which is mandatory for conducting the registration, Unni said.

Kanjikuzhy KSEB sub-engineer Suresh Kumar said in order to get power supply, they have to give the applicant’s Aadhar card, a no-objection certificate of local body, and the land owner’s consent. “If they give all these documents, we can give the connection in an hour,” said the officer.

“Though we have approached panchayat authorities many times, they were not ready to give their consent,” said Jyothi, Satheessan’s wife. When contacted, Kanjikuzhy grama panchayat president M G Raju said they would make all arrangements to provide power supply to the family as soon as possible.