Bhubaneswar: The Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO) is planning to engage private entities to test drinking water samples at 102 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the state, sources said.
It is learnt that water testing at the ULBs would be carried out through public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.
The PHEO had engaged a private entity to test drinking water samples in nine cities/towns, included in the central scheme Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
Notably, the Urban Development department signed a 10-year contract with a private company December 20, 2016 allowing it to test water samples at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela, Puri, Balasore, Sambalpur, Baripada and Bhadrak. The state agreed to pay altogether Rs 66.21 crore to the private entity for the job.
It is mandatory for state government to test drinking water samples at ULBs. As per guidelines laid down by Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS), the state government is bound to test drinking water samples by adhering to 80 parameters before supplying it to people at the ULBs.
The state government has set up laboratories under 19 PHEO divisions to test water samples. All these laboratories are equipped with machineries and manpower to do the task. Moreover, the Urban Development department had informed the state Assembly time and again that the government laboratories are instrumental in providing cent per cent safe drinking water to ULBs.
“The Urban Development department earlier claimed that the government laboratories were doing good work with regards to water testing. But, now the PHEO is planning to engage private parties to test drinking water by ignoring government laboratories. This is a strange situation,” said an observer.
Sources, meanwhile, claimed that the private company, engaged to test water samples in the aforementioned nine cities, has flouted several norms while performing its duty. As per the guidelines, the company is bound to keep the corporators/councillors and the PHEO junior engineers in the loop while collecting the samples. Moreover, it has been dictated to make photography or videography of the testing process.
It has been alleged that all these norms are thrown into the winds while testing drinking water samples.
When contacted, PHEO engineer in chief S Laxmipathy said they are mulling to do water testing in ULBs through PPP mode. “We are yet to take a final call on the issue. Government laboratories are facing problems to test water samples due to expansion in urban settlements in state,” he pointed out.
Laxmipathy claimed that PHEO engineers are inspecting the collection and testing of water samples for cities included under the AMRUT scheme.
