Times of India: Hayderabad: Thursday, January 29, 2015.
A whopping Rs
100 crore collected by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) from
house owners and building contractors over the past three years for digging
rainwater harvesting pits have allegedly been diverted or lying unaccounted.
Activists say
that GHMC officials are clueless about the money as numerous pleas made through
Right to Information (RTI) Act failed to get a satisfactory response.
"When we sought expenditure details of the recharge pits, what we got was
a vague response. While some officials said that they had sent the money to
head office, others could not answer where the money was," rued M
Padmanabha Reddy, secretary of Forum for Good Governance (FGG).
The GHMC,
under the Water, Land and Trees Act (WALTA) had been collecting Rs 8 for every
square yard for recharge pits. "It is evident that no proper records were
maintained about the funds. When we asked for information, the records showed
that they managed to spend only five per cent of the amount," Reddy said.
Civic body officials corroborated the fact saying that five percent of the
amount was spent for construction of harvesting pits in playgrounds, vacant
government lands and other such places.
GHMC
engineering wing sources said that an internal probe showed lots of discrepancies
in billing of some work that was carried out. Expenses shown for construction
of recharge pits could have been inflated, they alleged.
When
contacted, no GHMC official could explain what happened to the ambitious plan.
"It is an old issue. We will have to look into the matter before
commenting," said R Dhan Singh, GHMC engineer-in-chief. Civic body chief
Somesh Kumar said that he was not aware of the issue, while former mayor Majid
Hussain said that he was busy in a 'family medical issue'.
Activist S
Mahender Reddy said that he had filed close to 15 cases on the issue in
Lokayukta, but it did not result into anything substantive. "With no means
of replenishing the ground water table, people are forced to dig borewells and
depend on tankers. The GHMC has to look into the matter and either return the
money they took from people, or use it for the intended purpose," Reddy
said.
Hyderabad is
bracing for a bad and parched summer with ground-water levels plunging.
"The last readings put groundwater at a depth of 9.46 metres and it is
expected to go down further to 10.5 metres by May this year," said G
Sambaiah, director of groundwater department.
Sambaiah also
pointed out that there are a few places in the city, including Banjara Hills,
Ameerpet and Somajiguda, where water can be reached at depths of 15 metres. He
was also vociferous regarding the missing money. "It is the civic
department which has to take up the issue and answer questions. They cannot
brush it aside."
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