Gujarat govt steps in to solve dirty water woes

Vadodara: Showing unprecedented urgency, the state government deputed five former and serving engineers of water supplies to resolve the water contamination and supply issues that have turned serious.

Earlier it was believed that work on the Nimeta water treatment facility that draws water from Ajwa reservoir would solve the supply of turbid and yellow-coloured water.

But despite the work getting over, several areas including those that were not supplied water from Nimeta complained of either insufficient, erratic or contaminated water.

The issue took a serious turn with residents of the eastern and southern areas taking to the roads to protest. Residents of a high-rise building with 40 flats in the Navapura threatened to boycott the ensuing civic bypolls and the opposition Congress was also looking to capitalize on the issue.

Manjalpur MLA and minister of state for urban housing and Narmada Yogesh Patel too pressed the panic buttons and raised the problem with chief minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday. Patel said that Rupani also spoke to the VMC commissioner.

The services of three former executive engineers of the VMC will also be taken to resolve the problems, said Patel.

“The situation will be reviewed at 5pm daily. At least one of the deputed engineers, the three former engineers of the civic body, myself and senior VMC functionaries will attend the meeting till the problems are solved,” Patel said.

The officials have been given a deadline till Diwali to take care of the situation. If the issues persist even then, they were told that they would face action.