Surat: The state govt on Tuesday suspended three officers of the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB) posted in Surat after a newly constructed overhead water tank collapsed during a testing process at Tadkeshwar village in Areth taluka of Surat district on Monday.According to sources, the suspended officials include superintending engineer Ankit Garasiya, executive engineer Rajnikant Chaudhary, and deputy engineer Jay Chaudhary. The state govt has also ordered the stoppage of all pending payments to the construction contractor and directed officials to initiate criminal proceedings in connection with the incident.Police have begun the process of registering an FIR at Mandvi police station against the owners of Mehsana-based Jayanti Super Construction, which was awarded the contract to build the tank.The tank, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore under the Gay Pagla Juth Yojna, was meant to supply drinking water to 14 villages in the region. The 15-m-high structure had a storage capacity of 11 lakh litres.Officials said that around 9 lakh litres of water had been filled into the tank over the past two days as part of the testing process before it collapsed.Three women workers who were working nearby sustained injuries in the incident. The construction of the tank had been underway for the past three years.
