A water supply tank at Sikandarpur and (below) Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporation. Pictures by Prakash Kumar

Muzaffarpur, April 8: A tug of war between the primary health engineering department (PHED) and Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporation (MMC) over the past eight months has spelt doom for the proposed potable water supply scheme here.

The scheme focuses on facilitating drinking water supply in 12 of the 28 wards falling under the corporation.

The plan is stalled despite the Union urban development department providing Rs 22 crore to the PHED in 2006, under the first phase of scheme to create requisite infrastructure.

The PHED gave a tender to a private agency to accomplish the construction of eight pumping stations, five water towers, installation of 16 chlorinate machines to purify water, besides setting up 104 public posts. The corporation was entrusted the daunting task of laying water supply pipeline in the 73km route within the 12 wards.

It took four years to complete the assignment and the construction agency finally finished the work in July 2010. The PHED, after creating the required infrastructure of water supply in the 12 wards, decided to hand over these edifices of water system to the municipal corporation for delivery.

The corporation flatly refused to take charge of the responsibility of supplying water from the newly created water system.

“The construction agency selected by the PHED has failed to maintain the quality of work and established pipelines haphazardly without obtaining no-objection certificate from the water resources department and the public works department,” said MMC commissioner Arun Kumar Singh.

“PHED laid pipelines of water supply on the makeshift embankments along Budhi Gandak river. Besides, inferior quality of the construction material has been used while making pumping stations and water towers,” Singh added.

Executive engineer of PHED Nageshwar Sharma said the municipal corporation has turned hostile as the urban development department authorised the PHED to construct water plants in 12 wards of the corporation under its guidance and supervision. “The allegations of the PHED engineers are baseless,” said the commissioner, adding a technical team of the corporation, led by engineer of water circle, studied the new water supply line prepared by the PHED and found massive irregularities.

The team stated the new water system is marred with haphazard construction and substandard material.

In the wake of findings of the team, the corporation is reluctant and unwilling to take the responsibility of catering to the needs of water for the residents of the 12 wards of the corporation, the commissioner said.

Meanwhile, divisional commissioner (Tirhut) S.M. Raju said the tussle between the two government departments — PHED and the municipal corporation — to start the supply of water with the new system remained inconclusive. Raju said he heard several arguments and complaints from both sides and tried his level best to sort out the differences. The municipal corporation is adamant not to take up the responsibility of providing drinking water from the new water system created by the PHED on the ground of inferior constructions. The commissioner hinted that the huge expenses incurred over the water project should be utilised after resolving the impasses between the two government departments.