Workload takes its toll on water dept staff

JAIPUR: With the rain god apparently being merciful on the state, it could well be another couple or more showers before the capital and the rest of Rajasthan could heave a sign of relief from its water scarcity.
But even as hopes soar, there is little thought on all that behind the scene activity that went about across the water resource department as it worked round the clock for collecting each droplet of water in the state so that the buckets could fill up each morning.
For J P Lokwani, currently the chief engineer of the Jaipur division, it was a choice between the call of duty and the chance admission of a close relative due to a serious ailment in the hospital in May this year.
But Lokwani, then the additional chief engineer, choose to live to his duty as he worked for eighth days at a stretch hoping from home to hospital to work. "He could barely take a day's leave from office. The crisis was at its peak and work could not take a backseat," sources in the water resource department said.
Such was the tussle that even the water resources minister Mahipal Maderna and the principal secretary Ram Lubhaya could not resists but visited the hospital to take a look at Lokwani's relative so that the officer's remains optimistic. But hopes dimmed and the relative passed away about a week later.
"Such has been the pressure and the stress level for each and every person in the department that in most districts I have at least five to six officers who have fallen sick. It was a big task to ensure that the supply remained steady," says Ram Lubhaya.
The crisis had started building by the end of March this year after a year of failed monsoon. "About 25 districts had received less than 60% rainfall, 108 dams were completely dry while 140 had less than half of its water capacity. The conditions were dismal. It came to such a point that all leaves were cancelled. And if anyone had to go on leave, he had to seek the principal secretary's permission," sources said.
But the work pressure soon began taking its toll. At Malviya Nagar while AEN Keshav Srivastav was taken ill due to work and the heat, at Vidyadharnagar. Suraj Bhan Katiwa had jaundice but had to cancel his leave after he was soon summoned back to work.
"The most affected were the AENs and JENs. These are the people who know the areas like the back of their hand and without they being there supplying the optimum quantity of water become as difficult as no one else has such an in-depth knowledge," the source added.