The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on Thursday transferred two officials in charge of the NCERT campus, a week after contaminated water was blamed for the death of two persons. Several others had to be hospitalised. While the CPWD admitted to being at fault partially, sources in the organisation maintained that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) was to blamed as well.
According to the CPWD, an assistant engineer and junior engineer in charge of the NCERT campus were transferred on Thursday. The CPWD has also received a report from a committee set up to probe the incident.
Between June 23 and June 26, two persons, including an eight-year-old girl, and several other residents in a Type-I block of the NCERT Colony fell ill after allegedly drinking contaminated water. Since then, the CPWD, which maintains the distribution lines inside the colony, and the DJB have blamed each other. After the casualties, the DJB and CPWD cleaned all underground reservoirs.
Senior CPWD officials stated that they had received complaints at least a month before June 24, when two residents of the NCERT fell seriously ill and died.
"For the last month, water received from the DJB was yellow and dirty. On receiving such complaints, we cleaned the water tank and asked the NCERT to arrange for water in tankers, but no action was taken," a CPWD official said.
The CPWD has also admitted o that a manhole outside the NCERT campus on Aurobindo Marg was blocked with sewage.
"Since the sewage line was choked, all other lines in the campus were also blocked. So the dirty water from the DJB appears to have been further contaminated, possibly in the distribution system, due to the backflow of sewage in a particular stretch near the affected Type-I block," a senior CPWD official said.
He said since the incident, tanker water was being supplied to the colony.