NAGPUR: Many areas of the city are facing water shortage as
construction of 20 overhead water tanks under stage III of Pench IV
project of JNNURM is way behind schedule. So far, only four tanks have
been commissioned. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation
(NMC) was supposed to complete the work between May and December 2011.
The civic body has now revised the deadline and expects to complete work
on the remaining tanks by December 2012.

The Centre had
approved the project in December 2006. Work started in March 2008 and
the deadline was March 2011, which was later pushed ahead by a few
months.

The location of these tanks is critical for ensuring
proper water supply. If a tank is far away from the locality, the
pressure reduces by the time water reaches the locality, resulting into
drop in quantity. So far, four tanks have been commissioned at
Sakkardara, Jaitala, Shanti Nagar and Pratap Nagar.
Areas where the remaining tanks are being constructed include Nandanvan
(two), Bhandewadi, Kharbi Road, Babhulvan and Pardi (two) in East
Nagpur, Bastarwari (two), Binaki (two) and Indora (two) in North Nagpur,
Omkar Nagar and Hanuman Nagar in South Nagpur, and Seminary Hills,
Trimurti Nagar and Gorewada in West Nagpur.

Work at Babhulvan,
Trimurti Nagar and Gorewada got delayed due to land acquisition problems
while the design for the Seminary Hills tank has been approved only
recently.

Commenting on the delay, mayor Anil Sole
said, “It took time to acquire land. However, NMC has completed the
process barring for one or two. Forest department has recently cleared
the proposal for acquiring its land at Gorewada.”

Sole further
said that most of the tanks are ready but they have not been connected
to the main feeder pipeline. The distribution network of some tanks was
also incomplete, he said.

A NMC official
said that there were several other reasons for the delay. “Some months
ago there was shortage of steel and cement. Another problem is that
construction labourers are not available locally. Contractors have to
bring them from Chhattisgarh. Cash flow was also a big problem for some
months. However, most of the problems have been sorted out,” the
official said.