Ujjain : Mela Officer-cum-Ujjain Municipal Corporation Commissioner Avinash Lavania on Tuesday suspended a sub-engineer of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED). He also reprimanded the senior engineers for their failure to stop mixing drains in the river Kshipra.
After publication of a story in the Free Press’ Tuesday issue, the entire administration and Simhastha authorities got struck over their claims with regard to mixing of 11 major drains of into the river Kshipra under the preparations of Simhastha-2016. But, Free Press team found all claims as hollow. On visiting the ghats between Ram Ghat and Mangalnath Ghat, at least half dozen drains were found openly mixing in the river Kshipra. It included Rinmukteshwar Nala, Gonsa Nala, Mojamkhedi Nala. Kaal Bhairav Nala, etc. So far Rs 450 crore has been spent on the Narmada-Kshipra Link Project, Rs 300 crore on Khan River Diversion Project and about Rs 25 crore on stopping and diverting drains and severe lines of Ujjain.
At around 5 pm, Mela Officer-cum-Ujjain Municipal Corporation Commissioner Avinash Lavania reached at the Valmiki Ghat to assess the situation at Rinmukteshwar Nala. Additional Municipal Commissioner Ravindra Jain, Superintending Engineer Hans Kumar Jain, PHED Executive Engineer RK Shrivastava, Assistant Engineer Vinod Joshi and others were already present there. Despite all arrangements to stop and divert the Rinmukteshwar Nala, seepage of drains was evident at the spot. During rains on Monday, drain-out arrangements at the spot failed miserably and holding sub-engineer Manoj Kharat as responsible, Lavania immediately suspended him.
The said authorities then moved towards Ranjeet Hanuman Nala, where drain of three nearby villages has been mixing in the river Kshipra. On this, Lavania reprimanded the officials accompanying him and directed them to at once ensure stoppage of mixing of the drain. He then visited the sites of mixing of drains of Gonsa, Mojamkhedi and Kaal Bhairav Nalas and directed the officials to ensure that such things are stopped soon. On being contacted, Lavania told this correspondent that they are quite concerned over the purity of river Kshipra and would not leave any stone unturned to ensure that the Kshipra remain pure. The concerned engineers have been directed to throw their full strength, he added.
