JAIPUR: A six-inch water supply pipeline burst during a Smart City project work on Chaura Rasta on Tuesday evening. Workers were digging the road unaware of the presence of a water pipeline there that impacted the supply in the area around although Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) repaired it by Wednesday evening. This was amongst many such incidents when the Smart City contractors have damaged water pipelines. Around 4,000 people living in the area were impacted and water supply remained disrupted on Wednesday morning. PHED claimed that the repair work will be finished by evening. Ravindra Garg, executive engineer of PHED, said, “Some work was being carried out by Jaipur Smart City Ltd at Vishweshwar area near Chaura Rasta. While digging up the road, they didn’t realise that there was a pipeline underneath and burst on Tuesday evening. We started the repair work on Wednesday and by evening the work was completed. As the water is supplied in the evening, people didn’t have to suffer without drinking water.” Many other incidences have occurred in the past when pipelines have burst due to work done by some other department. This shows lack of co-ordination within the government departments. Another problem that the departments are facing right now is the availability of labour in the city. Due to pandemic, most of the labourers have gone back to villages or have refused to work as the fear of second wave is immense. Sometimes PHED, Smart City or municipal corporation have to wait for days to get a work done as labourers are not ready to come even on higher rates.
Chaura Rasta water pipe damage hits 4,000 in Jaipur
