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| Drinking water project
in a mess |
A drinking water project, constructed at the cost of 1.7 million rupees,
has ceased working after just 6 months of operation here in the Ayodhyapuri
Village Development Committee (VDC).
The project started its operation last year
after it was completed in two years, according to locals of a remote
village situated in the southern part of Chitwan district. Chhimek
Samaj of Nepal constructed the project with the financial aid of Rural
Drinking Water and Sanitation Fund. "The
main supply pipes of the project were washed away by floods as Chhimek
Samaj did not ground it properly," say locals. The intake and
collection tank of the project is inside the Royal Chitwan National
Park, i.e. four km from the village.
"The people of the village only got water
for about 6 months," says Prem Prasad Bhandari, the ward chairperson
of Ayodhyapuri VDC-8. "The locals also invested more than 40
thousand rupees on the project."
The project was constructed with the aim
of supplying drinking water to 240 families of ward nos 7 and 8 of
the VDC. "The people are suspecting Chhimek Samaj for improper
handling of the project fund," said Bhandari.
"As there is a lack of proper follow
up by the government, this often leads to mishandling of projects,"
says Naradmani Poudel, the chairperson of the VDC. "The contractors
Chhimek Samaj neither deposited the construction equipment in the
VDC nor handed over the project to the users' committee before leaving
this viliage." The District Development Committee of Chitwan
has allotted 50 thousand rupees for the reconstruction of the project
this year but the locals believe it is not enough to run the project
again.
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