Nagpur Environmental Services Limited slams water operator for poor performance

NAGPUR: The Nagpur Environmental Services Limited (NESL) is unhappy with the services of private operator Orange City Water Limited (OCWL), and has directed it to expedite work on reducing complaints of water contamination and losses by replacing old and leaking water network. Surprisingly, a decision was also taken to provide additional funds to NESL due to the increasing financial loss.
A meeting of the NESL board of directors was held on Wednesday to discuss 10 proposals. Chairman of NESL mayor Anil Sole, municipal commissioner Shyam Wardhane, chairman of standing committee Dayashankar Tiwari and other officials and office bearers were present.
Confirming the poor services by OCWL, chairman of water works committee Sudhakar Kohle said the private operator replaced just 15-18km old and leaking water network in the last nine months. "Water network of 574.86km has to be replaced by 2014. But the pace of work is slow. NESL also expressed its dismay with executive engineer Shashikant Hastak and directed expedition of works," he said.
Kohle further said that OCWL has failed to increase billing of water bills. "There are around 3 lakh water connections. But billing is done for just 1.90 lakh connections, causing a revenue loss. OCWL has failed to improve the system. There are just 52 meter readers for the entire city. There should be at least one meter reader for each ward. The expenses on water supply are around Rs11 crore per month while the revenue is Rs6 crore. Therefore, NMC will have to pay the difference to NESL," he said.
Kohle further said that NESL was hampered by slow pace of JNNURM works. "Wardhane slammed officials and directed them to ensure completion of works in time. There is no coordination among officials. Three new overhead water tanks are ready to be brought into operation. But there is no water network attached to the tanks. The new tanks are lying idle. The water supply can be improved if these tanks come into operation. Besides, NESL decided to direct OCWL to increase salaries of NMC staffers working with it by 10% in line with assurances," he said.
Sources told TOI that the balance sheet of last fiscal presented by the water works department was not accepted by NESL. "Directives were given to present the balance sheet with accounts and finance department for verification. NESL has kept pending the proposal to appoint representatives of two NGOs on the board of directors," said sources.
Slamming officials for negligence, Kohle also said the online monitoring system of water works installed by spending over Rs4 crore is lying idle since a year. "Hastak is responsible for the loss. Despite spending crores, the department does not have proper data of water supply. Besides, the GPS system installed in water tankers is also not working. All this has led to huge revenue loss. Sole expressed dismay and directed officials to improve services," he said.