SIT quizzes pollution board JE

Bhanu P lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 9

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the outbreak of jaundice in Shimla and surrounding areas, today quizzed a junior engineer of the Pollution Control Board (PCB) for several hours. It also sent supplementary questionnaires to the Member Secretary, PCB, and the Commissioner of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC), said SP, Shimla, DW Negi.

Their replies had been received and supplementary questionnaires had been sent to them after going through the replies, he added.

Both had reportedly defended the role of their organisations but SIT had reservations on replies to several queries.

All seven persons, including the contractor and executive engineer, arrested in connection with the case are in judicial custody.

The SIT is probing the role of the Irrigation and Public Health Department, the PCB and the SMC, responsible for monitoring the quality of water and scanning the records of the past few years to fix the responsibility.

Assistant Commissioner and Public Relations Officer of the SMC Prashant Sarkiak said, “We have submitted the reply while the supplementary questionnaire were received yesterday”.

All seven BJP MLAs from Shimla blamed the Congress government for the outbreak of jaundice and said the government had proved to be the most incompetent.

The MLAs, Suresh Bharadwaj, Dr Rajiv Bindal, Dr Rajiv Saijal, Baldev Tomar, Suresh Kashyap, Govind Ram Sharma and K L Thakur, said there was no coordination between different departments of the government which were blaming one another for the jaundice outbreak and the public was suffering.