At Lucknow DM office, ‘polythene ceiling’ to save employees from leaking roofs

LUCKNOW: As the monsoon season advances, it’s not just the city which is in miserable condition, thanks to rank apathy and lack of preparation by the civic authorities, even the office of Lucknow DM failed to withstand the incessant downpour.
So much so that when TOI visited the office on Saturday, employees had put together a temporary ‘false ceiling’ made of polythene to protect themselves and files from leaking roofs.

With seeping roofs and moist walls, the condition of record rooms of mining, arms, finance and revenue, probationary, land dispute and other crime record rooms was deplorable. Lack of file cabinet landed employees in trouble, as most of record files and file bags kept in open cabinet were drenched.

Similarly, in land record and mining record rooms, most of the statements and drafting on pages of files were messed up and employees had to sit under a temporary polythene ceiling. Besides, the stagnant water around is posing a serious threat of epidemic outbreak.

When those who are working at the DM office for long were asked about the reason for this sorry state of affairs, they told TOI that there was no renovation work in the office for the past 10 years. The seepage from the roofs was due to the waterlogging on the roof top after a week of rainfall. The drainage system of roof and other rooms were completely choked which retained the water.

On the other hand, the one power supply unit at the entrance of DM office building was posing open threat to life of visitors. The wires were seen completely naked and there was very little gap between open electricity wires and parked vehicles. Recently, DM Kaushal Raj Sharma inspected the rooms of collectorate and ordered to fix the issues in building.

Additional district magistrate (west) Santosh Vaish who is also an in charge of fund department of collectorate said that the building had not been renovated from years. Administration needed a separate budget for the renovation of building. Now, a proposal is being prepared which is likely to be sent soon.

Times View

If the situation is so bad in the district headquarters, one can easily imagine the plight of the people in the rest of the city. The issue is not just about the problem being faced by the collectorate staff, the damaging of official files would eventually hit the public. There is an urgent need to save these files and provide relief to employees. Besides, district administration should ensure restoration of buildings along with the provision of annual maintenance.