Ghaziabad DM fines himself for wasting water

GHAZIABAD: The district magistrate on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on 130 officials and staff, including himself, whose office is located at District Collectorate, after he found that a large quantity of water was overflowing from a water tank installed just behind his office.
There are 30 senior officials and each one of them has paid Rs 100 towards the fine, while the remaining 100 staff members deposited Rs 70 each.
DM Ajay Shankar Pandey said the money would be used for steps being taken to conserve water. The defect in the water tank has also been rectified.
"It is the responsibility of everyone to save the water. At present, Jal Shakti Abhiyan is going on in the country and efforts are being made to save water from all sources. I have several times issued directives to various department to take measures to save water. The fine will hopefully make officials more aware towards their responsibilities. As I am the senior most official here, it is also my responsibility," he added.
The incident came to the DM’s notice on Monday morning soon after he reached office. According to his two-decade-old habit, he swept his office room on his own with a broom. Afterwards, when he went to the restroom, located next to his office, he heard the sound of water flowing to the ground. He asked his staff to find out the reason behind this.
The staff told him that the water was flowing down from the tank installed just behind the restroom. Further inquiry revealed that water was flowing for the past 10 minutes. He subsequently imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 as “repentance fee” on all the staff and officials for this wastage of water.
Interestingly, Pandey has also put a board outside his office at collectorate stating that he himself cleans the room and urges people to not throw garbage and increase the burden on him.