The Pioneer  13.08.2010

Badal sets October deadline to complete water supply projects

PNS | Chandigarh

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday asked the Punjab State Sewerage Board and Water Supply to complete the ongoing sewerage and water supply projects of `125 crore expeditiously to cover the entire city of Patiala by the end of October 2010.

A decision to this effect was given by Badal in a high-level meeting held under his chairmanship to review all the major development projects of Patiala. Badal said that he would ensure timely completion of these projects and assured sufficient funds.

The Chief Minister directed the Deputy Commissioner of Patiala to explore possibilities to commercially exploit the vacant Government land in the district to raise funds which could be further utilised for the various development projects in the city.

Badal further asked the Mayor and Deputy Commissioner to identify such land that could be transferred to the improvement trust Patiala for the construction of commercial and residential units. 

To facelift the entire city, the Chief Minister asked the PWD and Municipal Corporation to jointly undertake the strengthening and beautification work of the roads under their jurisdiction.

He further asked the PWD to develop walking tracks along the roads within next three months. The Chief Minister would convene next meeting on August 25 to review the progress of these projects.

The Times of India  13.08.2010

NAGPUR: Despite a good monsoon and, all rivers and dams overflowing in Vidarbha, almost 10 to 12 lakh citizens in east, north and parts of south Nagpur will have to face severe water shortage for the next 10 days.

Residents from zones of Asi Nagar, Nehru Nagar, Lakadganj and some parts of Dhantoli zone are already facing severe water shortage since the last many years and now this will only add to their woes. The NMC water works department plans to repair two pumps at the Kanhan pumping station during the 10 days.

Just last month the NMC had a three-day shutdown for the same reason while earlier too almost once or twice a month it used to stop the water supply for three to four days. Around 120 mld of water is pumped from the Kanhan pumping station to north and east Nagpur.

Corporators from these areas, including senior NMC leaderVed Prakash Arya and Manoj Sangole, have already warned of an agitation. Residents too have threatened to participate in the protests. They alleged that it has become a routine exercise for NMC to close down its Kanhan pumping station for some reason or the other for almost seven days in a month.

Vivek Awate, a resident of Asi Nagar, said that since the last 15 days the entire locality had not received any water supply from NMC taps. "Every summer we face lot of problems as potable water supply is rare. Now, in monsoon too we are facing severe water shortage. We are forced to fetch water from the tank even for cooking and drinking," he said.

The water works department has also announced a 10-day low pressure and limited water supply between August 12 and 22.

Rukhmabai Meshram of Indora said that since the last few days all members in her family were bringing water from other localities. "If the water problem is not solved in the next few days, we will seal the water t est and central Nagpur where the residents are receiving more water than they need," she said.

Though the mayor, the municipal commissioner and water supply department since the last many years have assured that the problem would be solved, "It has only aggravated," said Arya.

WWDexecutive engineerShashikant Hastak said that the two raw water pumps at Kanhan had got damaged due to the continuous downpour in catchment area of Kanhan river and high turbidity accumulated in the intake well.

"We have started repair work but it will take a few more days to complete," he said. "The existing plant at Kanhan has become very old and we are replacing the 120 MLD station at Kanhan (which is working since 1940) by a new 240 MLD plant. The new plant will solve all the problems and start providing uninterrupted water supply soon," Hastak informed