MP: People forced to store drinking water in a septic tank

Can a human being store drinking water in a septic tank? According to the findings of an enterprising journalist, over 600 families in Tikamgarh district, Madhya Pradesh, are doing exactly this.

Tikamgarh is in Bundelkhand, spread over both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which at present is facing the worst water crisis. Drought has been a problem in Bundelkhand for many years. The UPA1 government under former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had sanctioned a package of ₹7,600 crore to address Bundelkhand’s water woes, among other challenges, in 2008-09. Of this, ₹3,600 crore was sanctioned for Madhya Pradesh and the rest for Uttar Pradesh. Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh comprises Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Panna, Damoh and Sagar districts.

While speaking at various rallies on the eve of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in 2013, BJP’s then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had praised the state BJP government headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the excellent utilisation of the package fund. While praising Chouhan, Modi pulled up Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh for its dismal failure.

However, the ground reality uncovered through a district wise analysis by NGOs and feature agencies in fact shows shoddy implementation of schemes funded by the package. According to the analysis, a project with a budget of ₹411.33 crore was approved to build a canal to deliver river water to 11 tanks. This project remains incomplete and, in some places, was implemented in a haphazard manner. Had this project been completed, the people of Tikamgarh would not have to use septic tanks to store drinking water.

Similar schemes for Chhatarpur district have not been implemented. When some NGOs raised the issue, the Chief Technical Examiner enquired about the implementation of various schemes and found many faults in them. A sum of ₹210 crore was given to Public Health Engineering Department to construct 350 check dams. The enquiry found that sub-standard raw material was used to build these dams and the construction was faulty. The result was that many of these dams collapsed even before use.

A startling disclosure was made when it was found that construction material for various projects was transported in two-wheelers, taxis, jeeps. etc. The registration numbers of these vehicles were mentioned in the bills submitted to respective departments claiming that these were for trucks which were used to carry construction material. Enquiries made at the Regional Transport Authority found that none of the numbers was that of a truck.

The PHE department was also given a sum of ₹100 crore for drilling tube wells. But in this case also only a few tube wells were found to be successful. A sum of ₹980 crore was given to the agriculture department which too was not properly utilised. A handsome sum was given to the horticulture department to supply sprinklers, drip sets and pumps. But it was found that substandard pump sets, sprinklers, drip sets were given to farmers which did not function properly. Several enquiries have been ordered to find out the extent of irregularities and corruption in the implementation of the schemes. According to the preliminary findings more than 200 officers and employees are suspected to be guilty. But no concrete action has been taken against any.

According to Pawan Ghuwaram, who has been doing pioneering work to pinpoint the loopholes in the implementation of various projects, sincere implementation of the package granted by Manmohan Singh would have quenched the thirst of the people of Bundelkhand.