DIPAYAL: Drinking water projects in Doti are a sham. Water is not supplied from the pipelines, rather it is poured into the pipeline from a pitcher!

Huge amounts are spent on the inauguration of such projects. VIPs are invited. They turn the tap on and the water flows. But they don't know that the water is stored in the tank by using pitchers. This is being done in collaboration with the government employees working in the field and the chairman of the consumers' committee.

Such sham, after drinking water projects are completed with tens of millions of rupees, can be seen in a dozen of places in the VDCs like Banlek, Tikhattar and Basuki of Doti.

Water projects implemented by Regional Monitoring and Assessment Office, Dipayal, have met this fate. Tek Bahadur Rawal of Tikhattar told THT: "We were hoping to get rid of the burden of fetching water from far away places. But it seems far fetched."

The locals of Tikhattar VDC allege that the government employees in the field and the members of the consumers committee were hand-in-glove in misusing Rs 84 lakhs spent on the drinking water project. However, the Regional Monitoring and Assessment Office, Dipayal, is unaware that the water in pipelines dried up so soon. The locals claim that the government employees of the concerned office had taken 20 to 40 per cent commission for approving the project. The consumers also claimed that millions of rupees were spent on such projects designed without proper studies. The consumers have been facing trouble as they cannot get water from the so-called completed projects.

Purna Prasad Upadhyaya of the Regional Monitoring and Assessment Office said water might have dried up due to faulty implementation of the projects.