MANGALDAI, Oct 19 � The Congress-led State Government is stated to have observed �Pariskar Asom, Seuj Asom� week-long campaign since October 15 last following the �Swachh Bharat� country wide campaign by the BJP-led Central Government, both of which aim at ensuring a clean and clear atmosphere all around including pure drinking water.
The Deputy Commissioner, Darrang, MS Manivannan while launching the �Swachh Bharat Abhiyan� in Darrang district assured the people of the district to provide pure drinking water which has been regarded as the right of every citizen by the apex court.
But for the poor people of villages like Baghpori, Dathia Basti, Majar Muslim Chuba, Mowamari etc., in the district, this assurance has turned into a hollow promise as the ongoing drinking water supply scheme undertaken here at No. 1 Mowamari village by the Mangaldai Public Health Engineering Division has witnessed serious cracks in the concrete structure and the whole structure has got tilted.
The local people have already apprised the matter to Ramen Deka, MP demanding an inquiry into the poor quality of construction, alleged that they have time and again met the officials of the PHE department and the contractor who visited the worksite about their poor quality of work. It has been observed that bags full of sand have been put on the structure of the reservoir and the treatment plant to balance the weight and thereby stop further bending.
The Executive Engineer, PHE Mangaldai Division Chinmoy Choudhury informed that the work of the Baghpori Pipe Water Supply project was launched at an estimated cost of Rs 1.38 crore under the Centrally sponsored National Rural Drinking Water (NRDW) scheme for the year 2013-14 with the target to provide drinking water to 4761 people and the present progress of the project is about 60 per cent.
The work for the reservoir and treatment plant part was allotted to Dipak Deka, a registered contractor under the division.
The Executive Engineer admitted that the structure has tilted but he refused to accept the poor quality of work as the reason. Instead he identified flood as the lone reason.
On the other hand, the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Darrang in charge of disaster management and Circle Officer, Mangaldai Revenue Circle when asked ruled out any damage to the government scheme in the area due to floods.
