High Court Raps WATCO Over Cuttack Box Drain Project

Bhubaneswar: The Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO) functioning under the aegis of Odisha Housing and Urban Development Department, which was formed for providing drinking water and sewerage in urban areas of the State has committed gross irregularities in execution of number of projects, due to which there has been huge loss to the State exchequer.

From the Improvement of Water Supply to Greater Berhampur” project of WATCO in the Silk City worth Rs 372 crore, planned to supply 125 (million liters day) drinking water to the city, to construction of box drains in various parts of the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, the WATCO CEO Pradeep Kumar Swain have bend virtually every rule to favour the contractors in the lure of green bucks.

In the latest incident, the decision of WATCO for construction of 3,5 km-long box planned under the sewerage and drainage project in Cuttack from Buxi Bazaar to Matru Bhawan has come under the Orissa High Court scanner.

The High Court had sought the assistance of an expert committee after a petitioner sought the court’s intervention alleging the residents of Ward 36 and 37 along the 810 -metre stretch from Chhatra Bazaar to Matru Bhawan would face unhygienic conditions and difficulty due to the open drain.

The expert committee consisting of Prof Arindam Sarkar and Prof Sumanta Haldar, School of Infrastructure of IIT Bhubaneswar in its report before the special bench constituted for adjudicating the PILs on civic problems in Cuttack  said it is not feasible  to build the box drain over the 810- metre  without affecting the buildings in its close vicinity.

Instead, the expert committee opined for construction of open drain from Chhatra Bazaar to Matru Bhawan ,ensuring safety of life and structures on both sides of the drain.

However, it is alleged that the WATCO CEO even tried to influence the HC-appointed expert team but in vain.

It might be mentioned here that huge irregularity has been detected in the construction of Rs 245crore box drain project in Cuttack for drainage of waste water. The OPWD Code has been violated and the tender has been awarded to the agency Nalanda,

In Puri , the ambitious drink from tap project is Puri has failed miserably as of late the water kiosks are not functioning and gone dry.  Besides, the water supply to the residents house is erratic. A social audit should be done to ascertain whether there is 24x 7 water supply, which is being claimed by the WATCO.

However, despite all the scams in WATCO and irregularities in the department, Swain has managed to cling to the chair even though a new government has taken over reins of the State,

When contacted, WATCO CEO PK Swain said, “When you execute multiple projects , there are bound to be flaws. They need be rectified.”