Hand over Shimla water supply to MC, CM urged

Shimla, January 1

Former Deputy Mayor of Shimla Tikender Singh Panwar has written a letter to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu requesting him to pass on water supply management from the SJPNL (Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited) back to the Shimla Municipal Corporation that has both the competence and ability to handle it.

In his letter, the former Deputy Mayor has expressed strong reservation and resentment over the way the urban development department is handling the water company in Shimla.

In his letter, Panwar said, “I have written to you and I have apprised you of the stench that this project under the Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited has spread all around. Not only is it mired in controversies like hiking the tender pricing of both the bulk water supply and the performance-based contract, this company is hell bent on favouring some of the cronies even bypassing the existing CPHEEO (Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation) norms in the tendering processes.”

The letter to CM further stated, “The SJPNL is determined to hand over the performance-based contract to a France-based private company. The tender pricing has been escalated by almost 100 per cent and in the absence of any justification to award this tender to the aforesaid company, the SJPNL has gone outside its precincts reaching out to IIT Roorkee to provide a justification for such higher prices.”

“This project was conceived and commissioned during our term while serving the city as deputy mayor and nowhere was it supposed to be executed by a company. I request you to earnestly implement your agenda of “Vyavastha Parivartan”, meaning systemic change and for that I urge you to pass on the supply to the Shimla Municipal Corporation,” state the letter by Panwar.