The state government move will also help in ensuring regular water supply to drought-prone villages. Disclosing that the order had come into effect on April 8, Patel said that it would remain in force for the next six months.

Patel's decision is the latest in the stand-off between the minister and the board employees. On April 6, Patel had alleged that corruption was rampant in the sewerage board, claiming that this was the main reason for the drinking water shortage experienced in many parts of the state every summer.

He even accused the board employees of deliberately delaying the process of issuing and accepting tenders for the purchase of pipes and other materials required for implementing water-supply schemes. The minister alsoannounced that he would soon launch a concerted drive to weed out corruption from the GWSSB and make each and every employee accountable so that the board would function in a smooth and effective manner.

Close on the heels of Patel's allegations, over 7,000 employees of the board submitted a memorandum to the minister threatening to go on strike from April 16 if their demand for implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission report.

However, Patel on Saturday made it clear that the proposed strike was a fallout of his efforts to streamline the functioning of the board as also to weed out corruption -- though he did not say that in so many words. He merely cited instances of dissent within the board when similar efforts were made in the past. For instance, an unidentified man once threw acid on the board's member secretary K B Patel. "Ever since, senior board officials have been apprehensive of dealing with lower level employees with an iron hand," he said. Besides, lower-rung employees had been charged withdisregarding orders of senior officials, the minister added.

While Patel conceded that the employees' demand for the new pay package was not unwarranted, he said that it was no excuse to hold the entire state's population to ransom. "As many as 4,742 villages in the state are drought prone this summer. The proposed strike threat by employees would not only have played a havoc with water supply but angered the public as well," he added. By declaring the board services "essential" the state government had prevented the sewerage board employees from going on strike, the water supply minster explained.