Indian company employs 200 Bauchi residents

An Indian engineering firm, Lutech- Pratibha, says no fewer than 200 indigents of Bauchi State were employed while executing the State’s Government water project.

The firm’s project manager, Nanda Kumar, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Bauchi.

Mr Kumar disclosed that only five Indians are presently working in the company, saying the large number of the local employees were responsible for the peaceful coexistence between the management of the firm and the state, especially the people of Gubi community, where the company was located.

“The community has been very cooperative. One thing we did to the community is that we gave them employment.

“We have employed about 200 people here and we only have five key personnel from India. All others are here and most of them are from this area, that’s a good gesture,” he said.

Mr Kumar explained that the main objective of the company in Bauchi was to rehabilitate and expand the state’s water treatment plant as envisioned by the present administration of Governor Bala Mohammed.

He said the project was the part of state government’s efforts to meet the people’s demand for water in the state, adding when completed 7.5 million litres of clean water would be supplied to Bauchi metropolis and environs on a daily basis.

He explained part of the company’s mandate was to expand the water treatment plant from 45,000 cubic meters per day to 75,000 cubic meters per day.

According to him, additional 30,000 cubic meters per day will be added in order to meet the current and future water demand of Bauchi state.

“In the expansion of the treatment plant, we are to expand the plant from 45,000 cubic meters per day to 75,000 cubic meters per day.

“(An) addition of thirty thousand cubic meters per day would need to be put in, to meet the current demand of Bauchi and probably the future demand of Bauchi as well.

He said the company was also mandated to rehabilitate plant which “design capacity is above 45,000 cubic meters per day but the running capacity is around 37,000 cubic meters per day.

“Once we rehabilitate the plant, aesthetically, it will look very nice and the running capacity will augment the design capacity.

“The job is almost at 100 per cent at completion stage,” he said, adding that the said the people of the state would begin to enjoy well treated quality water when completed.

He assured the residents of the state that they would start receiving pipe-borne water by the end of March, 2021.

An employee, Abubakar Sulaiman, told NAN that residents of the area were grateful to the company and the state government for engaging the firm to handle the project.

Mr Sulaiman said and others like him could now afford to feed their families from their earned wages.

Another employee, Mustapha Abdullahi, called on other foreign organisations working in the state to emulate the Indian company’s good working relationship with its staff.

(NAN)