The public health engineering department has began a health audit of 15 overhead water reservoirs constructed in Bankura’s Jungle Mahal in the past three years. The scan follows the sudden collapse of one such tank in the district’s Sarenga block on Wednesday afternoon.

In all, 16 overhead reservoirs, including the one that caved in on Wednesday, had been constructed by a Calcutta-based company under the Centre’s Backward Regions Grant Fund to supply drinking water in the former Maoist bastion, which is also considered to be among the most arid zones in Bengal. Several reservoirs are showing signs of damage.

Abhijeet Chatterjee of The Telegraph gives a low-down on what ails these overhead reservoirs that were constructed in 2016 and commissioned in 2017

1. Location: Dubrajpur in Shimlapal block

Structural issues: The concrete plaster of the reservoir is peeling off at several spots and iron rods have become visible. Water leaks from the tank when it is full. The tanks also vibrates at times.

2. Location: Belghoria in Shimlapal block

Structural issues: The problem here is same as with the tank at Dubrajpur. The concrete plaster started to fall off, exposing the iron rods. When water load increases, the tank trembles. Sources said to lessen load on the tank, engineers had lowered the reservoir’s maximum water level.

3. Location: Hetyagera in Shimlapal block

Structural issues: Same as in Dubrajpur and Belghoria villages. The three-year-old tank is already showing signs of wear and tear. While plaster is falling off exposing the iron rods, the tank starts to shake when water is pumped into it. Engineers have tweaked the tank’s capacity and the caretaker has refused night duty fearing it may collapse anytime.

Construction cost

Altogether 125 overhead reservoirs were constructed in the 14 blocks of Bankura district in the first phase of the project. The total cost of the project was Rs 165 crore.

Sixteen of these were constructed in the Jungle Mahal with each tank costing around Rs 1.3 crore.

The capacity of these tanks vary between 700 and 500 cubic metres depending on the area’s population size and demand of water.

Why early damage

Structural engineers are surprised at damage setting in so early.

“It is not possible for a structure to collapse in three years. Usually, incidents of water tanks collapsing is related to natural calamity.

The collapse of the tank on Wednesday hints at irregularities in the construction of the overhead tank,” said a structural engineer who teaches at an engineering college in Durgapur town.

Fresh worry

“Iron rods is visible to the naked eye as plasters have peeled off a tank in Bankura. We are examining the health and sustainability of the tanks,” said a public health engineering department engineer (PHE) in the district. The PHE had carried out repair of some tanks and the villagers were surprised at the damage as they tanks were commissioned only in 2017.

Preventive measures

Sources in PHE said they had decided not to fill the tanks to its maximum level until the survey found them fit.

What villagers fear

Several villagers work in the vicinity of these overhead tanks. The collapse of the tank has created a panic among them. “What will happen if a tank collapses on us while we’re working in fields. We are scared,” said a villager Dubrajpur in Shimlapal block.

Caretaker confession

The caretaker of an overhead tank said on condition of anonymity said water leaks from the reservoir when it is filled to optimum capacity. “The concrete plaster has become loose and the iron rods are visible,” he said.

Politics over tanks

What the opposition says: BJP’s Bankura MP Subhash Sarkar blamed cut-money behind the sudden cave-in. “Trinamul leaders have taken away a major portion of the project cost as cut-money. The tanks were not constructed properly leading the collapse of one such facility,” said Sarkar. The CPM echoed Sarkar.

What the minister says: Junior PHE minister Shyamal Santra, who hails from Bankura, said he would not comment till the inquiry was over. “Our engineers are conducting an inquiry. They have collected samples from the debris of the collapsed water reservoir. We are also conducting health survey of other tanks in the area. They are likely to submit a report by January 27. We are maintaining water supply normal in the area,” he said.

He said when the CPM was in power for 34 years, it did not do anything to supply drinking water in the parched areas of Bankura and Purulia. “It is Mamata Banerjee who did it. So they have no right to criticise us,” he said.