Instructions in this regard were given during a review meeting on water scarcity held here on Thursday.

“The purpose is to establish water stand posts. The plastic tanks will
be filled by the tankers and the distribution will be managed by the
local civic bodies. It is a stop gap arrangement. We tried this system
on experiment basis in some towns of Junagadh district during the last
fortnight and have decided to replicate it,” an official said.

Meanwhile, the government is eagerly looking towards start of a new
pumping station at Navada to mitigate the water scarcity in towns of
Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar. Sources said the Rs 40 crore project is
being completed well ahead of the deadline. “We should be able to
augment Narmada water supplies to the tail ends by the third week of May with this station,” an official said.

The existing pumping station is supplying water to two pipeline
networks in the region. The first network going towards Jasdan, Gondal,
Jetpur, Jamkandorna, Keshod is being supplied 300 million litres per day
(MLD).

The second network going towards Bhavnagar, Rajula,
Jaffrabad up to Veraval is being supplied 170MLD. The new pumping
station will augment supply by 75MLD to the first network and 200MLD to
the second one.