GHAZIABAD: The GMC said on Friday it has imposed a fine of Rs 15.7 lakh on the private company responsible for maintaining the sewer and drain network in Ghaziabad after a survey found that 105 manholes in the city were damaged.
In April this year, a 3-year-old girl had to be rescued after she fell into an open manhole in Govindpuram.
The incident prompted the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) to conduct an inspection of the open and damaged manholes in the city.
“A survey was conducted in April in which it was found that a total of 370 manholes were found to be damaged or uncovered, so we had issued notice to WABAG to attend to it in a time bound banner,” said Anand Tripathi, general manager of GMC’s water works department.
Afterwards, the GMC conducted a second phase of the survey the same month. “We found that 105 manholes were damaged/uncovered. We had to impose a Rs 15.75 lakh-fine on WABAG,” Tripathi said.
He said the fine was calculated by charging Rs 500 for each of the 105 manholes every day of the month (30 days). The amount will be increased progressively if the firm still does not address the issue, he added.
The Chennai-based company is contesting the fine. “We have written to the GMC to contest the case because when the list of 105 damaged manholes was sent to us, we had attended to 309 manholes. We have also offered a joint inspection of manholes in the city,” said Rajnish Singh, project manager, WABAG.
There is a sewer network of 2,000km in the city and there is a manhole every 20-25 metres, Singh said. “Add to that 850 manholes that have been adding up every month in the last three months, so we have a lot of work. The infrastructure also tends to get damaged due to wear and tear every day,” he said.
WABAG was awarded the contract to maintain the sewer and drain network in the city under the state government's ‘one city, one operator’ policy.
