The Pioneer 23.09.2010
Narmada Drinking Water Project hits hurdleStaff Reporter | Bhopal
The most important drinking water project for the state capital, Narmada Drinking Water Project, is facing a hurdle — shortage of labourers.
According to senior officers, even if the number of labourers is increased, it will take at least 100 days more to complete the project. The construction agency, Kirloskar Ltd, had promised to complete the project by November 2010. Urban Administration Minister Babulal Gaur has once again asked to expedite the construction work.
The information was divulged at a review meeting chaired by Gaur on Wednesday. Mayor Krishna Gaur, Bhopal Municipal Corporation President Kailash Mishra, Principal Secretary of Public Works Department RK Swai, Secretary to Urban Administration and Development Department SPS Parihar, Commissioner SN Mishra, Additional Commissioner of BMC Arvind Dube and other officers were present.
Public Health Engineering Department Engineer-in-Chief Sudhir Saxena informed the meeting that the construction agency, Kirloskar, has so far revised the date of completion seven times, but due to shortage of availability of labourers and internal problems of the company, the date of completion has to be revised yet again. He said that the vice-president of Kirloskar Ltd, Sanjay Kirloskar will meet Chief Secretary Avni Vaish again within a week.
This meeting will give the company's final deadline to complete the work. The meeting was informed that in case the work of the project is not completed within the time limit in November, the company will have to pay penalty at the rate of Rs 10,000 per day. But, the main efforts would be to bring Narmada Water to Bhopal. The Narmada Drinking Water Project is taken up under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and estimated at `339 crore.
BMC Additional Commissioner Arvind Dube informed the meeting about the progress of construction of overhead tanks and laying new pipelines in the city. He said the work has been divided into three priorities. The first priority has been accorded to Ahmedpur-Misrod region. The BMC has laid 23-km pipeline against a total length of 26 km. The remaining work will be completed by December 2010.
