NAGPUR: When the entire city is facing water scarcity,
Nagpur Municipal Corporation (
NMC) is allegedly turning a blind eye to various complaints by Surendra Nagar residents regarding alleged theft of the hand pump on borewell from their area.
They also complained that a local organization in their area, Balkrishna Sewa Mandal, had illegally installed a submersible electric pump in place of a hand pump, which was installed by NMC behind the transformer near Surendra Nagar Basketball ground.
It was only after their complaint that the Mandal authorities removed the submersible pump on their own, but NMC is yet to re-install the hand pump. Though the civic body issued a letter to Mandal secretary Shaila Khode to restore the hand pump on borewell on May 2, it failed to act after that.
According to residents, the Mandal office-bearers had illegally removed the hand pump and installed a submersible pump for their private use since a year. The hand pump has not been seen since then. They claimed that they were facing acute water shortage as peak summer approached and were dependent on the hand pump.
Residents said that NMC supplies water for just about an hour in the area making matters worse for them. “Earlier, the borewell was being used by children playing in the area and also by patients coming at Dr Vilas Dangre’s clinic, but the Mandal authorities have now deprived them of this facility,” they said.
Denying their claims, Khode said they had removed the electrical pump from the area after the complaints. She, however, admitted that the submersible pump was installed without seeking the civic body’s permission.
“The electric pump was donated to us as hand pump developed a snag and wasn’t repaired for long time by NMC. As it became difficult for women in the Mandal to fetch water, a donor installed that pump for our convenience. Interestingly, no one took objection for over a year since that pump was fitted,” she said, adding that there was no theft of hand pump and it was kept safe in the nearby temple.
KB Khatri, junior engineer at NMC’s Laxmi Nagar zone, admitted that the Mandal office-bearers had fitted electrical pump without their permission, but said they had now themselves removed it. “We’ve received complaint just now and have issued notice to the Mandal. We’ve told them to re-install the hand pump as early as possible.”
He confirmed that the Mandal members used the water illegally and he had forwarded the file to the executive engineer for further action. “We would wait for a few days to see whether the Mandal members would refit the hand pump, else action would be taken against them,” he said.
