Jajpur: Fate of a mega drinking water project being built at a cost of Rs 70 crore at Vyasanagar in this district has been pushed into uncertainty after the consultancy agency was removed from the project over delay in implementation and sub-standard work, a report said Thursday. The project was implemented five years back under Urban Infrastructure Development for Small and Medium Town (UIDSMT) scheme. Residents alleged it has happened due to the apathetic attitude of the WATCO authorities and irregularities committed by the agency in connivance with some officials. The project was implemented with the aim to provide sufficient drinking water to residents of Vyasanagar (Jajpur Road) town in the district.
Accordingly, the second mega drinking water project was launched in July 2021 with funds available from Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC). The deadline for completion of the project was August 2023 but the hope of the residents of getting clean tap drinking water by this time has been shattered. The contract to implement the project was awarded to an Ahmedabad-based consultancy agency Surgeon Infracon Private Ltd.
However, the agency was removed and the tender awarding the contract was cancelled from implementing the project due to delay in implementation and sub-standard work. The agency moved the court against its dismissal from the project but it failed in its bid, General Manager Debabrata Mohanty of Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO) said. The WATCO has now floated a fresh tender and decided to divide the project works among six consultancy agencies instated of awarding the contract to a single agency. The state Housing and Urban Development department had initially prepared a plan outlay of Rs 45.12 crore funds which will be provided by OMBADC.
Accordingly, the CEO of OMBADC was urged to sanction the funds in 2019. Later, due to cost escalation the plan outlay was revised and increased to Rs 70 crore. The above-mentioned consultancy agency started construction of the second pump house and treatment plant. However, the project has failed to make any headway even four years after approval of the project.
Meanwhile, the agency out of the estimated 90 km has only laid pipelines for only 40 km. They have only done 14 per cent of the work for the project. Residents and observers have alleged large-scale irregularities in the implementation of projects. It is alleged that the agency has laid the pipelines by digging up small pits instead of big pits. The compound wall of the project near the old treatment plant has developed cracks only a year after its construction.
Moreover, the agency is alleged to have not dug up deep the pit as foundations to build the wall and done sub-standard works by using 10mm iron rods. It is alleged that due to substandard works, the wall may collapse any time soon while the water tank constructed for the treatment plant is also of sub-standard quality. Observers claimed that with controversy plaguing the project, the new agency which will take up the project will have to tread a cautious path and make corrections to the wrongdoings committed by the previous agency.
Notably, the management of drinking water supply was earlier vested with Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO) but was withdrawn from it and handed over to WATCO two years back. The existing drinking water project has failed to meet the needs of the residents with very little water being supplied through the taps. Huge funds sanctioned for maintenance of the project are not being properly used and allegedly siphoned off for which residents of Kanheipur, Chandmaa, Kachahudisahi, Dahisahi, Rampas, Satakania, Sobara, Digisahi, and Dhabalagiri areas under 26 wards of Vyasanagar are suffering from water scarcity. Efforts to contact manager HK Das of the sacked agency failed to yield any result and he did not pick up the call of this correspondent.
