By Tanaji Khot ; Posted On Monday, June 14, 2010 at 12:04:44 AM
Dr Shriram Pande found residents in Sangvi were charged extra for water connections. He called PCMC authorities and asked for details on the same. The money was refunded
The best things in life are certainly not free. In fact, as Sangvi resident Dr Shriram Pande found, even the basic necessities such as running water sometimes cost more than they should.
Pande found that contractors of the area were collecting money from people for giving them water connections in Pawar Lane in Sangvi.
They asked him for Rs 200 as well. But he found the situation fishy and refused to pay them. Then he decided to apply Section 4 of the Right to Information Act (RTI) to find out the exact details of the water connection project.
Pande said, “We came to know that the workers on the ongoing work of PCMC were collecting between Rs 100 and Rs 450 from the houses in the area.
Since charging such money is illegal, I called up Additional Commissioner Subhash Dumbare and executive engineer Sharad Jadhav, and asked for the document related to the terms and conditions of the ongoing work.”
As a result of this, PCMC Deputy Engineer M V Marne visited the area with the document. According to the document, the ongoing work is part of a Rs 14.03-crore provision for development, out of which Rs 2.53 crore had been allotted for upgradation of water supply lines in Sangvi.
The civic body has already sanctioned Rs 695 for each domestic water connection. This meant that the contractor’s workers are collecting extra money from the citizens.
After revealing this fact, Marne asked the contractors to refund all the money collected by his worker from the citizens. Thirty five residents together made a list of the money collected from them. A total of Rs 9,003 was refunded to them on the spot.
Pande also said, “I came to know that wherever water supply work is going on in the city, the contractor’s men are collecting extra money from the people.
To avoid such incidents, the civic body should keep all the information related to ongoing work on the site of work. Residents should also be aware about this and should not pay extra.”
Marne added, “If such incidents happen anywhere else, people should inform PCMC. People should not pay them extra because contractors have already given the money for individual water connections.”
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