Kendrapara, Jan 17: The state government has taken four engineers of the water resources division into task following collapse of a creek irrigation project at the Mahakalapada area in Kendrapara district.
A departmental inquiry has ordered recovery of the project cost from four engineering wing personnel of the local irrigation division. The inquiry panel has found evidences of sub-standard construction work, use of inferior building materials, lopsided technical supervision and erroneous soil testing by its technical wing.
On October 16, 2006, a concrete structure, built for Rs 1.37 crore in Benakanda village, collapsed within a month of its completion. The project aimed to provide fresh and unsalinated water for irrigation.
The three-member technical committee of the state water resources had probed into the incident and found the officials in-charge of the project responsible for its failure. “The project cost has to be realised from four engineers directly involved in execution of the project,” said sources.
Earlier, the probe committee had issued showcause notices to 11 senior engineers of the Kendrapara water resources division. However, explanations offered by the erring officials were not satisfactory. The committee found prima facie evidences of lapses and negligence on part of the division officials.
The Opposition parties here had been persistently demanding that guilty engineers be penalised for caving in of the NABARD-funded Benakanda-Malibasa creek irrigation project.
The cave-in incident had triggered a public outcry that forced the government to order a high-level inquiry to ascertain the factors leading to the cave-in of the irrigation structure. With large agriculture fields getting salinised, the creek irrigation project was to act as buffer against tidal waves.
Ironically, the local water resources divisional office had made a cost escalation of the creek irrigation project only a month before it collapsed. The department had reportedly recommended that the cost of the project should be enhanced because of its superior quality of construction.
