Sources said that a 1 lakh cubic litre overhead tank was constructed in 2004-05 at a cost of Rs 30 lakh, and the then PWD minister commissioned a pump house at Mudkud-Agonda.
Shortly after the inauguration, it came to light that the 22 HP pump installed at the Mudkud was underpowered and that, it would take 4-5 days to fill the overhead tank.
After some days, pumping was stopped and operations to fill the overhead tank were halted, the overhead tank and the costly filter installed at the site lying idle since then.
As water supply to the village worsened and complaints began to mount, the PWD procured a higher powered 33 HP pump for the Mudkud pump house.
Almost immediately, the PWD encountered another problem. As soon as the 33 HP pump was set into motion, the underground pipeline supplying water to the overhead tank began to burst.
On examining the underground pipeline, the PWD realized that uneven sized GI pipes had been laid up to the overhead tank.
“We strongly suspect a scam in the laying of different sized pipe along the same route,” a villager said. “The PWD kept the issue of laying different sized pipes from the pump house to the overhead tank under wraps. Officials began to proffer lame excuses of unavailability of sufficient water in the old tank as an excuse for erratic supply in the region,” the villager added.
When contacted, Canacona Assistant Engineer (PWD-Water Supply) initially said he was not the department spokesperson, but later admitted that the overhead tank was completed before he came to occupy the post.
“As such, I am unaware about the cost of the project, its storage capacity and why it was kept idle for so long. But efforts are underway to make the overhead tank operational by laying a new pipeline,” he said.
“Since the existing pipeline is unable to withstand the pressure of the pump, we have already prepared and submitted an estimate worth above Rs 4 lakh to replace and lay a new pipeline from the Mudkud pump house to the Betul-Agonda overhead tank. The existing pipeline ruptures whenever the higher powered pump is operated,” the assistant engineer told Herald.
One of the valve operators, who has often been at the receiving end of irate residents due to erratic water supply, told Herald, “If this overhead tank is made operational, residents of Agonda need not remain dependant on the Chapoli Dam water supply. The entire village can be serviced with sufficient pressure in their taps on a daily basis.”
A decade after it was built, PWD water tank remains unused at Agonda; pump installed for the tank was underpowered and would take a minimum of four days for the tank to be filled
