GOVERNMENT’S INDIFFERENCE ATTITUDE

GOVERNMENT’S INDIFFERENCE ATTITUDE

25-JUNE-ENG 4

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA-------------------------Witness—with your own eyes—the reality of the negligent government system in Ara, Bihar, as its true nature is exposed layer by layer. Take a close look at the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) of Bihar—a department that makes grand claims about repairing over 75,000 defunct handpumps and installing thousands of new ones, though often these exist only on the files and papers sitting on office desks. On Mahadeva Road, behind the Mathia Hanuman Temple in Ara, two "Hathi-paon" (large-base) handpumps stand side-by-side, both completely defunct and reduced to scrap; a single handpump would have sufficed and could have been repaired. However, driven by the greed for higher commissions from contractors, the Executive Engineer—along with other staff—installed a second handpump right next to the first. An NOC was issued without the departmental Junior Engineer (JE) or Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) ever visiting the site to inspect the situation. Opposite the SP's residence near Ara Junction, a large-base handpump located at the gate of the Sales Tax Commissioner's Ministry Quarters has been out of order for years. Not a single handpump is currently functional at the Ara Sadar Hospital, the Model Hospital building (behind the Public Representatives' Building), or within the premises and residences of the Civil Surgeon and the District Health Society's DPM office. The PHED operates a pump house at Ara Sadar Hospital that used to supply water to nearby neighborhoods, as well as a water tower that supplied water directly to all hospital wards, offices, and staff quarters; yet, there are now plans to demolish and remove these structures. Driven by the lure of higher commissions, the Hospital Manager and the Civil Surgeon (who also serves as the Superintendent) are pushing for this because the prevailing trend involves signing off on new files and schemes to inflate project costs. In any case, the groundwater level in Ara city has dropped significantly due to the widespread use of private borewells, and the situation within the Sadar Hospital complex is even worse; every building there has its own borewell with a motor running day and night, yet no specific personnel have been appointed to operate or switch them off. Immediate departmental action is required from the PHED Minister, the Additional Secretary, and the District Magistrate of Bhojpur... The Executive Engineer, Bhojpur, should be directed to fully repair all defunct handpumps across the Bhojpur district—including those in Ara—and upload photographs of the same to the departmental portal.