The Times of India           15.10.2010

Pumps fixed, water woes end in south

KOLKATA: Reeling from a severe water crisis for three days in the run-up to the Pujas, parched pockets of south Kolkata heaved a sigh of relief on Saptami, with Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) taps springing back to life.

Engineers from Kolkata Metropolitan Water & Sanitation Authority (KMW&SA) and KMC worked through the night to repair the three pumps that had packed up over the past three days, plunging lakhs of residents in Garden Reach, Behala,

Jadavpur, Kasba and Alipore into a crisis.

As the pumps got restored, more good news filtered in. KMC has sanctioned `5 crore for modernising the Garden Reach water treatment plant. This money will mainly be spent to replace the pumps and instal a modern electrical system in the plant. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said the civic body would sanction more funds if the initial grant of `5 crore proved to be insufficient.

"We will sanction more funds for modernisation. We hope the state government, too, responds to the need for overhaul of the Garden Reach water treatment plant," Chatterjee said.

According to a KMW&SA official, at least `20 crore is needed to replace and repair the heavy-duty pumps. The plant, which has a capacity of 120 million gallons, was built three decades ago and is in a dire need of a revamp.

KMW&SA and KMC engineers managed to repair six pumps that had been out of order since Monday. The engineers worked overnight and finally succeeded in repairing three of the biggest pumps, which were immediately pressed into service to collect unfiltered water from the Hooghly. The KMC water supply department director general, Bivas Maity, later confirmed that the civic body was in a position to restore water supply.

However, the relief is temporary, warned KMW&SA engineers. Six major pumps out of the eight, which have been giving all sorts of trouble for the past six months, need to be replaced immediately. The electrical set-up also needs to be modernised to ensure uninterrupted supply of water, said a KMC water supply department official.