CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has directed the government to inform what action has been taken after a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) indicating serious shortcomings in water testing infrastructure in the state was placed before the state Assembly.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Maitree Sansad, a Cuttack-based voluntary organisation in 2016. In an affidavit submitted through advocate Ajay Mohanty on December 9, the petitioner cited a CAG report which pulled up the state Housing and Urban Development department over water quality management in urban areas of the state. The report said achievement of 100 per cent water quality as envisaged in the Water Policy-2013 remained unfulfilled, the affidavit said.
Taking the contents of the affidavit on record, the division bench of Justices SK Sahoo and Chittaranjan Dash said, “It appears that the CAG report was placed before the state Assembly in which serious shortcomings in testing infrastructure that compromises with the water quality has been highlighted.”
“Let the counsel for the state produce the CAG report and also obtain instruction whether any such report was placed before the state Assembly and if so, whether any action was decided to be taken thereon,” the bench said while directing to list the matter in the week commencing from January 6, 2025.
According to the petitioner’s affidavit, the CAG found nine labs (one at Bhubaneswar and eight in public health divisions) set up by Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO) in collaboration with Spectro Analytical Lab Ltd (SAL) at the cost of around Rs 18 crore are not conducting four important tests of disinfection byproduct (DBP), anionic detergent, chloramines and mineral oil.
The report also said that against a target of having 115 water testing laboratories (WTLs), only 22, which is 19 per cent, are in place and there is no plan in place to bridge the shortfall in a time-bound manner.
The CAG further observed that although Odisha State Urban Water Supply Policy (OSUWSP) envisaged preparation of action plan, which included establishment of WTLs and mobile WTLs to achieve 100 per cent water quality, nothing has been done, the petitioner stated in the affidavit.