After CM’s prod, PHE dept team conducts raids in nurseries misusing potable water

Kolkata: Prodded by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, engineers of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department on Wednesday morning conducted raids in Budge Budge I and II blocks in South 24-Parganas where drinking water was allegedly being used in nurseries.

Water connection to these nurseries was immediately snapped as locals said such practice has been prevalent for some time. The water pipeline in roads was being channelised for watering plants in nurseries. “We will not tolerate such nuisance. The water connection in households provided by our department is meant for drinking. It should not get wasted in such a manner,” said a PHE raiding team member.

In a virtual meeting with the PHE department on Monday, Banerjee said that the state had received 18,230 complaints of misuse. Most were from East Midnapore (3,893) followed by South 24-Parganas (3,879) and North 24-Parganas (3,041). The drive against water misuse was led by executive engineer Sagar Bandyopadhyay along with local police. Five FIRs were registered. The Chief Minister had warned against diverting water meant for agricultural or personal use, stating that such actions are criminal offences. The police have been authorised to arrest offenders and take legal measures.

Alleging that drinking water could not be supplied to over 50 lakh people in Bengal because the central government agencies were “not granting permission” for laying pipelines on their land, Banerjee on Monday had said that her government would seek legal steps if immediate sanctions are not received from those entities.