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Water Board Lost Rs 48 cr on Metal Scrap
Water Board Lost Rs 48 cr on Metal Scrap, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply Board. A pipeline was removed to facilitate the ongoing Metro rail works on Tarnaka – Mettuguda line. A lorry’s load of scrap material was sold in the open market.
Iron is perhaps one of the very few metals, which is valuable even after it wears out and is rusted. This metal is now minting money for a select few in Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB). Helped by the callous attitude of the senior officials, a select few have made Rs 48 crore over the past decade by selling old iron parts in open market
Making money from selling worn out and rusted iron parts is a petty crime. But making crores out of this? That is news indeed. Laidback HMWS&SB from the past decade have been accidently facilitating many petty thieves become multi-millionaires. Ironically, the debt-ridden Water Board who have been very keenly focussing on repairing and changing the parts, have turned a blind eye towards old parts.
Water Board has 16 divisions that report to the main office. They monitor 6,880 kilometres stretch of water and sewage lines along with 572 kilometres of trunk sewage lines which has 1.65 lakh manholes. About 3,500 km of pipelines were laid during the time of Nizams. As those water pipelines run through the core city, they usually require more repairs. And it is the section office that carries out repairs.
A section office, would receive about 10 tonnes of scrap iron every year. The usual practice is that they have to store the scrap, record the details and send the same to the main office. After a period of six months or one year, the main office auctions the scrap material. Sadly, this practice saw a natural death a decade ago.
One tonne of scrap metal in the market would fetch Rs 20,000 to 25,000; this would fetch the division Rs 24-30 lakh per year. All the 16 divisions for the period of 10 years put together, amounts to Rs 48 crore. Not a single penny of it has reached the HMWS&SB kitty; it found its way to the pockets of select few.
The scrap metal is usually ferried to second hand iron metal dealers at Musheerabad, from the section officers after 11pm. This practice is rampant in Marredpally, Secunderabad, Srinivasa Nagar and other offices. In a recent incident, scrap material worth Rs 10 lakh was sold at Musheerabad market. The scrap material included spindle rods, sludge valves, manhole covers and CA pipes. Though complaints were made to the higher-ups, no action was taken.
A pipeline was removed to facilitate the ongoing Metro rail works on Tarnaka – Mettuguda line. A lorry’s load of scrap material was sold in the open market.
The official was caught in the act by the higher authorities and was transferred to another department as punishment.
