Financial crunch hits repair of water schemes in Solan area

Ambika Sharma

Advertisement

Solan, November 14

With the Jal Shakti Vibhag (JSV) facing severe fund crunch, repair and maintenance of various water supply schemes has been adversely hit in Solan division.

With the private contractors not getting timely payments, about 200 employees looking after various water supply schemes were awaiting salaries for months. The repair and maintenance of these schemes had been outsourced to the private contractors after a sizable number of employees in the department had retired.

Few replacements were available for the staff that has superannuated, informed an official. A majority of these schemes are located in rural areas. In the absence of adequate staff, breakdowns often take days and residents are forced to go without water. This situation worsens during the rainy season when high turbidity hits the water quality and restoration takes days.

With the festival season having almost begun, non-payment of salaries has become an issue among the employees. Nineteen employees of Madiyana water supply scheme in Kasauli sub-division serving eight gram panchayats were facing such a problem.

The two-stage water lifting scheme has been operational. Hopwever, its employees were finding it difficult to make ends meet owing to non-receipt of salaries for months, informed an employee who has been looking after the scheme for over a decade.

Executive Engineer (JSV, Solan) Sumit Sood said, “Funds for repair and maintenance are received on a quarterly basis. The accumulated pending liability is now Rs 8 crore. Funds received are usually less than the required amount. Because of this, the liability has mounted to Rs 8 crore.”

He informed that the issue of early payment is regularly taken up with senior officials. The letter of credit for the pending payment for Madiyana scheme was awaited from the state government and payments would be made soon.

It was lamentable that the state government has failed to ensure timely payment even for essentials like supply of water to the common man, rued the residents of Madiyana village near Kasauli.

Employees await salaries

• With the private contractors not getting timely payments, about 200 employees looking after various water supply schemes were awaiting salaries for months.
• The repair and maintenance of these schemes had been outsourced to the private contractors after a sizable number of employees in the department had retired.