SURAT, April 29: A little arm-twisting from the district administration has forced the Gujarat Gas Company Limited to agree to pay upto Rs 10 lakhs towards a fund set up to improve the drainage in the Hazira area.The agreement came at the end of a week spent wrangling over exactly what Union Textile Minister Kashiram Rana meant by ordering the collectorate to prosecute the company for failing to pay its dues to the local industries' fund for upgradation of the drainage system.The order came at the end of a meeting Rana had with representatives of the industrial giants and government officials, at which the problems the Hazira residents faced in the monsoons because of the blocked-up drainage were also discussed.The units had been accused some time ago of blocking the natural water outlets with their effluents, triggering water-logging and other problems, and decided to set up a fund to desilt the outlets, level the low-lying areas and dredge two creeks.While the other units paid parts of their assigned amounts over two years, GGCL, which receives natural gas from GAIL and GSPCL and supplies it to domestic and industrial consumers in Surat, refused to pay, said it had not received any notices to that effect.Choryasi Prant Officer K Gadhavi, however, said the digging undertaken by the company while laying the pipelines from GAIL and GSPCL had led to the silting of drains in Tena and Limda creeks. A senior GGCL official said that the company would pay up to Rs 10 lakh and get the decision approved post facto at its board meeting on May 10.
