Speaker seeks action against IPH officials

Our Correspondent

Palampur, May 28

Brij Behari Lal Butail, local MLA and Speaker of the state Assembly, on Tuesday demanded action against officials of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department for installing substandard pipeline that supplies water to fire hydrants in Palampur which could not be made operational even after the expiry of five years.

Butail said despite spending Rs 80 lakh, the fire hydrant was still without water which could be fatal in case of fire.

He said because of his personal efforts, Irrigation and Public Health Department had laid a separate water supply line for the fire hydrant by spending over Rs 80 lakh in 2011 but till date the department had failed to release water as the four-inch diameter water supply line had failed to bear the pressure of water because of poor quality of material used by the department.

He regretted that senior officers of the department were well-versed with the situation but failed to initiate action against the guilty officials and contractor in past five years. Besides this, the department released the payments to contractor without testing the water supply line.

He said as and when water was released, leakage was reported at 12 points and water failed to reach a number of fire hydrants. Therefore, the department was left with no alternative except to discontinue the water supply to this line. Butail said the state fire department made various requests and also lodged complaints with the senior officers of the department but no results.