Garhwal Commissioner CS Napalchyal has submitted the report of inquiry on the Nanghat gravity drinking water scheme to the State Government. Napalchyal said that he found irregularities and misuse of funds in the Nanghat scheme and the full details of the inquiry have been submitted to the Government and now the Government has to take action accordingly.
It is pertinent to mention that the Nanghat drinking water project, which was executed to redress the water crisis in Pauri town, has failed to serve its purpose because of severe anomalies in its execution. The public had protested against anomalies in the execution of this project and taking cognisance of this the then chief secretary Subhash Kumar had ordered a high-level enquiry headed by Garhwal Commissioner more than one-and-a-half years ago.
Pauri town had been facing the scarcity of drinking water despite the Alaknanda pumping scheme of Srinagar. The previous Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna inaugurated the project on the foundation day of Uttarakhand on November 9, 2012, but this inauguration turned out to be little more than formality because the desired service has not yet been provided.
The locals had been demanding high level technical inquiry or CBI inquiry into the negligence and misuse of money in the execution of this project. The cost of this project has gone up from Rs43.28 crore to Rs71.37 crore. The Nanghat natural water source is in a remote forested area of Thalisain Tehsil in Pauri district. This project was designed to supply 4.25 MlD water per day. The length of the pipeline of this project is 68.21 kilometers from the natural source, Nanghat to Pauri town. So far, Rs62 crore has been spent on this project.
Technical experts point out that the DI pipes used in the scheme are not feasible for the mountainous area and are generally used in plains. The question being asked is why the Peyjal Nigam installed DI pipes covering a length of 46.21 kms. Garhwal Commissioner Napalchayal told The Pioneer that every aspect has been considered in the inquiry and full report has been sent to State Government. It is now upto the government to take necessary action on the report.