Water Project In Diphu: Non-Compliance With Gauhati High Court Order Glaring

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The KAAC (Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council) and its PHE (Public Health Engineering) Department have been caught on the wrong foot for their gross non-compliance with a directive issued to them by the Gauhati High Court for implementing a project to ensure supply of drinking water free from all impurities, including arsenic, to the residents of the greater Diphu area.

According to an order issued by the Gauhati High Court recently in connection with a PIL (72/2019) filed by Kamalsing Bey, the authority concerned allotted Rs 8.55 crore way back in 2008-2009 for the implementation of a project for safe drinking water for the residents of the greater Diphu area in Karbi Anglong. Responding to a PIL (76/2014) filed earlier by Rakesh Sing Teron and four others against the Union of India and others, the High Court had ordered the respondents, including the Additional Chief Engineer of the PHE in KAAC and the KAAC Principal Secretary, on April 7, 2015 to implement the project so as to ensure the supply of safe drinking water to the residents of the greater Diphu area. The new PIL (72/2019) filed by Kamalsingh Bey was necessitated because the respondents, especially the Additional Chief Engineer of the PHE in KAAC and KAAC Principal Secretary, had not complied with the order issued by the High Court on April 7, 2015 in the earlier PIL.

In its order issued recently, the High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Ajai Lamba and Justice Achintya Malla Bujor Barua asked the Additional Chief Engineer of the PHE in KAAC to ensure that water samples are taken from various places in Diphu in the presence of the residents of the area, tested for impurities, and the report be placed before the High Court.

The order further said that the Additional Chief Engineer of the PHE in KAAC would have to file his affidavit detailing the steps taken in compliance with the order issued on April 7, 2015. The High Court warned that in case of non-compliance of the order, it would be compelled to impose costs.

The PIL has been listed for hearing on January 9, 2020.

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