Dakshin Odisha Unnayana Parishad convenor Rabi Rath and social activist and Manav Adhikar Surakshya Manch (MASM) convenor Abani Kumar Gaya, an Independent candidate who was in fray for the Brahmapur Assembly seat, demanded criminal proceedings against CM Naveen Patnaik, engineers of PHED and officials of contract firm L&T for failure to supply drinking water to the city from the Janibila piped water project.
The project was inaugurated in haste on March 3 just ahead of the first phase of polling only to take political mileage, they alleged.
In most parts of the city, there is no improvement in the domestic supply of piped water even after the project was inaugurated, they contended.
They said that some of the residents of Gandhinagar 3rd Lane (West), Chanchada Pathara Street, Hill Patna, Goilundi and Gate Bazar are not getting sufficient water. On the other hand, after inaugurating the project, the situation has become worse, they added.
Notably, the first integrated mega water supply project which was started in the year 2014 was supposed to be completed by 2018. However, the delay in completion of the project has raised doubts among the residents.
The work of laying pipelines by digging the roads meanwhile has been stopped on the pretext of Maa Thakurani Yatra and the first phase of polling. Besides, the work has resulted in narrowing of roads leading to traffic congestion, sources said.
On the other hand, the newly-constructed roads have been damaged by the contractor in many places of the city due to the digging and laying the pipes and cementing the portions already dug.
Even the contractor who is supposed to fill and level the digging portions and repair the road by cement failed to do so reportedly under the protection of the babus of the PHED in most part of the city, thereby making the roads ugly, muddy, with heap of soils. There is no one, either in PHED (Engineering) or in BMC to supervise the work.
Meanwhile, some residents alleged that the PHED authorities are identifying the streets/lanes for laying pipelines arbitrarily and at their whims. For instance, though pipeline has been laid in some of parts of Gandhinagar, but Gandhinagar 3rd Lane Extension (West) area which is suffering from acute scarcity since last two decades has been skipped.
Similarly, 400 families of Chanchada Sahi who remain water-stressed had recently threatened to boycott election if their grievances for supply of water are not addressed.
Even a request to the Superintendent Engineer PHED three months to dig a tube well in the street (at the dead end of the Gandhinagar 3rd Lane Extension) surprisingly goes unheeded.
