PHED, Karauli admn end clash after dist collector apologises

Jaipur: With Karauli district collector Ankit Kumar Singh having apologised to public health and engineering department (PHED) superintendent engineer Arun Gupta, the duel between the district administration and PHED in the wake of an outbreak of water-borne disease in Hindaun City has ended.
There were allegations that Singh had sent some officials to Gupta’s home late on Monday and got the pump of a borewell installed there removed. It was also alleged that Singh had instructed the owners of private tankers not to supply water at Gupta’s house as he was held responsible for the recent outbreak of water-borne disease in Hindaun City.
“All is well that ends well. Following demonstrations and pressure from our association, PHED minister Mahesh Joshi took up the issue seriously. This led to the district administration reinstalling the pump at Gupta’s residence late on Tuesday, and the collector himself apologised to him and his family,” said Rajasthan State Engineering Services Association (RSESA) president Bhawanesh Kuldeep, who is an assistant engineer of PHED.
RSESA members were up in arms over the incident and had closed the main gate of Jal Bhawan, PHED’s state headquarters, and demonstrated on the compound on Tuesday. Demonstrations were soon held at PHED offices across the state. A team of RSESA representatives met PHED minister Mahesh Joshi the same evening, following which the Karauli district administration reinstalled the pump at Gupta’s residence, and the demonstrations stopped.
Matters, however, took a fresh turn on Wednesday morning when RSESA members sent requests to Gupta to lodge a formal complaint at least with the department, if not with police. TNN