Social activist Sol Dodum seeks probe into water supply scam

A CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Social activist Sol Dodum on Tuesday appealed to the State Government for a permanent PHED Executive Engineer (EE) in the East Kameng district, replacing the present EE in-charge Bharat Sonam. He also demanded the formation of an SIT to investigate the recent attack on him and his colleagues during a peaceful protest in Seppa on April 12; departmental action against the EE; transfer of Deputy Commissioner PA Polumatla; and registration of a case to investigate corruption involved in the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) at Lai Moya, WTP at Macha and water supply project at Kuchi Nallah.

Speaking to the reporters, Dodum said that Bharat Sonam should be relieved from the post of EE in-charge. He said Sonam has been serving in the post since 2015, which is beyond belief. Therefore, he should be relieved from the post and a new permanent EE should be posted to the district.

Dodum also claimed that Sonam has appointed his kith and kin in various posts in the PHE department through illegal means. Also, there is huge corruption in the department, due to which the department is not functioning properly.

"I have a list of his (Sonam) relatives who have been inducted illegally. Most of the appointments are back door ones with no proper documents and defying the rules of recruitment," he said, adding that the documents will be soon placed before the Chief Minister.

He said that the people of Seppa township should be immediately provided with potable water and a magisterial enquiry should be initiated in the recent cement refilling of damaged roads due to laying of a water pipeline.

He said the WTP at Lai Moya is being constructed with an approximate budget of Rs 36 crore and was supposed to be completed by the year 2020. The WTP, which was built to provide water to 6,000 households, is yet not completed citing a range of reasons.

Moreover, the department is also inattentive to respond to the information sought through RTI. "Therefore, we demand an investigation in the matter by the SIT," he added.

Dodum also demanded for SITlevel investigation in the recent attack on him and his colleagues, allegedly by the EE and his relatives. For that, Dodum said, the EE should be suspended from service and departmental action should be taken against him.

He also leveled various other corruption charges against the EE.

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