The Indian Express             21.11.2013 

State nod to BMC on Gargai dam project

The state government gave its approval for BMC to start work on the Gargai water project. However, it has asked BMC to pay the State Water Resources Department Rs 19 lakh before it does so.

"We issued an order last week giving them the go-ahead for the project with certain riders. We have asked them to get the design of the project cleared by Maharashtra Engineering Research Institute. We have asked the BMC to pay the Water Resources department Rs 19.23 lakh which is the cost they have incurred in the project so far," a senior Water Resources Department officer said. The Water Resources Department on November 12 had issued an order asking the BMC to start work on the project.

The project was first planned in 1994 when the BMC had asked the Water Resources Department to build the project on a cash contract basis. BMC had then even made payments to the department. In 1998, however, BMC asked the department not to start the project and demanded that it return the money.

BMC had then said it would build the project on its own. In 2012, the process for building the project was started with an in-principle approval by the state government.

Once completed, the dam will be able to provide the city with up to 227 million litres of water per day. A tributary of the Pinjal river, Gargai is located in Ogade, 120 km from Mumbai, and runs through a thick forest area.

The current demand of water is 4,250 million litres daily (mld) as against the supply of 3,400 mld.