Probe into water tank cleaning soon

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 28

The Assistant Commissioner of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) is expected to submit his inquiry report in a day or two in the cleaning of the 12-lakh litre capacity Keleston water tank from where the CID had recovered the skeletal remains of the missing four-year-old Yug last week.

The SMC Commissioner had ordered the inquiry to fix the responsibility in the cleaning of the water tank. However, cleaning of all 47 water tanks in the city was being termed as a “shoddy exercise”.

The SMC suddenly woke up from its deep slumber after the brutal murder of Yug that the big water tanks could be used to commit heinous crime. The corporation had already put eight water tanks under lock and the remaining tanks would be put under lock by August 31, said officials of the MC.

Pankaj Rai, SMC Commissioner, said the inquiry officer was expected to submit his report in a day or two. The officer had been asked to inquire into the cleaning of the Keleston water tank and fix the responsibility in the case, Rai said.

The MC had ordered the re-cleaning of all 47 water tanks under the direct supervision of the junior engineer concerned which was earlier done “more or less as formality” over the decades, said officials of the MC.

After the jaundice outbreak, the MC had started cleaning of the storage tanks twice a year.

Assistant Commissioner Prashant Sirckek said they would put all 47 water tanks under lock and keys by August 31 and re-clean the tanks which were not cleaned under the direct supervision of respective junior engineer earlier.

The MC officials said the Keleston water tank had been re-cleaned. All storage tanks which were earlier with the Irrigation and Public Health Department were transferred to the SMC under the Shimla Water Supply Authority in July this year to make both storage and distribution of portable water to the residents under an authority.