Jajpur: The water resources department has slapped a penalty of Rs 5.24 lakh on state-owned Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) for drawing 16,179 kilolitre (kl) of excess water from river Brahmani in violation of an agreement, a report said.
The state-owned body has signed an agreement with the department to draw eight cusecs of water from the river for supply to six industrial units in Kalinganagar.
The penalty was slapped after it was caught drawing an additional 16,179.80 kl of water from the river in the month of November for which it has been asked to pay a penalty of Rs 5,24,226 to the department.
Locals alleged that Idco becomes richer by supplying Brahmani water to the industrial units while the residents and farmers are deprived of water for their survival and for irrigating their farmland.
Sources said Idco has laid pipelines to the river to draw water for supply to the industrial units. The pipelines have been fitted with water flow meter to measure the amount of water drawn from the river.
The water drawn from the river is supplied to Visa Steel (3.68 cusec), Maithan Ispat (1.96 cusec), Dinabandhu Steel and Power (0.49 cusec), Rohit Ferrotech (0.39 cusec), Mesco Steel (1.27 cusec) and Emami Cement (0.22 cusecs) from the Idco.
The state body collects the bills from these industrial units but does not pay the bills to the water resources department in time. An RTI reply revealed that Idco owes an outstanding of Rs 16,03, 290 to the water resources department towards water cess.
It is alleged that Idco has managed to draw the excess water from the river by manipulating and influencing some officials of the water resources department. The water flow meters installed in the pipelines often become dysfunctional due to lack of proper service and timely repair. This helps Idco draw the excess water from the river.
When contacted, Idco’s divisional head Smaranshankar Mishra admitted that the flow meters havw become defunct and efforts are on to replace them.
Executive engineer Santsoh Kumar Balbantray of Jaraka division said Idco will be asked to make the water flow meters functional failing which it will not be allowed to draw water from the river.
PNN