Move after CBI probe demand by civil society
SHILLONG: After four citizens’ groups demanded CBI probe into the functioning of the Public Health Engineering Department for its failure to provide adequate water supply, PHE Minister Prestone Tynsong has decided to convene a review meeting shortly to take corrective measures.
On March 28, the pressure groups cited corruption in PHED that led to the department not functioning smoothly and even alleged mismanagement under the tenure of former chief engineer of PHE, S.K Sunn.
However, Tynsong said he would chair a one-day meeting to look into the various ills of the department so that corrective measures can be taken.
“I have taken over the PHE Department only recently. I will call the meeting of concerned officers of the department. But I am concerned over the undue delay in the important water supply projects,” Tynsong said.
According to the minister, responsibility will have to be fixed after the meeting.
Asked whether the State government will hand over the probe into the pending projects to CBI, Tynsong said, “If it is beyond the solution, which the government is exploring, why not?”
However, the minister asserted that the meeting to be chaired by him will examine each and every water supply scheme that was sanctioned, implemented and delayed so that a proper action plan can be arrived at.
Earlier, the demand of the civil society organisations was for an independent inquiry in the wake of an RTI reply which revealed that in spite of spending a huge amount of money on two major projects – the Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme (Rs 130,12,16,429) and the Umlyngka Water Supply Scheme (Rs 42,18,163) – the works were not satisfactory.