City reeling under acute water crisis
Thursday, 12 August 2010 11:17
administrator
The Times of India 12.08.2010
City reeling under acute water crisis
KANPUR: The water crisis in the Industrial City is going from bad to worse.
Kanpur requires 520 mld of water to meet its every day requirements. But it is facing a deficit of nearly 110 mld water.
The city gets 10 mld of water through Gujaini plant, 200 mld is supplied from Bhaironghat plant, 60 mld comes from lower Ganga canal plant, 35 mld from Ganga barrage, while hand pumps and other sources provide 120 mld water.
The Jal Nigam and Jal Sansthan officials have been claiming that the situation is improving slowly but long queues of people with buckets can still be seen at most handpumps.
While the water crisis has been prevailing in the city from quite a long time, the officials of Jal Sansthan and Jal Nigam have been playing the blame game. The urban local body (Jal Sansthan) passes the buck to Jal Nigam, which cites Jal Nigam and paucity of funds as main reasons behind the water crisis.
Blaming the laxity of Jal Nigam officials, the general manager of Jal Sansthan, Ratan Lal, said, "The water projects under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) promise to permanently solve the water crisis in the city.
Presently, the Ganga barrage plant, which is supplying 35 mld of water, can provide 190 mld of water, but due to inadequate infrastructure, it is not functioning with its full capacity.
The existing 200 mld water treatment plant that has been supplying only 35 mld of water was handed over to Jal Santhan in 1995. This treatment plant was supposed to cater to the needs of approximately seven lakh people residing in areas like Vikas Nagar, Nawabganj, Kalyanpur, Sharda Nagar, Azad Nagar, but presently, it is serving only a handful of localities. The reason is inappropriate planning and absence of water pipelines in various areas.
Questions are also being raised over the other two 200-mld treatment plants at Ganga barrage which have been constructed under the JNNURM projects.
Notably, the projects, entailing a cost of around Rs 650 crore, were divided into two phases.
Under the phase I, it was planned to improve the water supply in inner areas of the Old City.
So it was decided to have a 200-mld water treatment plant, 38 clean water reservoirs and pumping heads, 14 overhead tanks and 700 kms of water pipelines in the area. But the work is going at snail's pace.
Under phase II, it was planned to establish a 200 mld and a 28.5 mld water treatment plants, 38 water reservoirs and 32 overhead tanks etc in the remaining areas.
The phase I project is scheduled to be completed by December 2010 and phase II project by 2012.
However, the incharge of water supply project, Jal Nigam, D C Gupta said, "The phase I projects cannot be completed by 2010 due to insufficient funds. Both the projects have commenced, but due to paucity of funds, it is impossible to predict when the water problem will be solved."
Last Updated on Thursday, 12 August 2010 11:19
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City sinks, 223 waterlogging complaints
Thursday, 12 August 2010 10:59
administrator
The Times of India 12.08.2010
City sinks, 223 waterlogging complaints
NEW DELHI: The city was submerged in water and traffic was brought to a complete halt in several areas on Wednesday. A total of 223 complaints of waterlogging were received by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) control rooms from across the city. The civic agency claimed its officials were in the field to supervise the arrangements to clear the water.
Waterlogging was reported from several areas, including ITO-Chungi, South Extension, Lajpat Nagar, IIT, Ashram, Moolchand, Defence Colony, Lodhi Road, Savitri Cinema, Chirag Dilli, Punjabi Bagh, Shakti Nagar, AIIMS, Pusa Road, Azad Market, Burari, Wazirabad, IP flyover, Shadipur, CP and Mandi House. Amongst the worst affected were the West, Central and Shahdara North zones that received 28, 25 and 28 complaints, respectively.
Meanwhile, MCD resorted to offering the same excuse of the drainage system not being able to take the load of so much water after the heavy showers. Said mayor P R Sawhney: ‘‘Drains in the city have a limited capacity and cannot take in the excessive water after heavy showers. Also, drainage system is faulty at some places which is leading to waterlogging in those areas. Lack of coordination among various agencies is also posing to be a problem and is adding to the trouble.’’
The civic agency claimed that the ongoing construction work in the city was making matters worse even as the sewer system was choked. Said an official: ‘‘The construction waste lying along most of the roads tends to block the drainage system. In some cases, the drains have collapsed due to ongoing construction work. Concretization of footpaths has also compounded the waterlogging problem in the city.’’
Concerns are being raised regarding the preparedness ahead of the Commonwealth Games as it is expected to rain during the mega sporting event also. There are apprehensions that the problem may lead to an embarrassing situation.
The civic agency, which is responsible for desilting stormwater drains in the city, had said in July that it has cleaned all the 1,500 drains twice this year. According to MCD’s annual desilting report, it had over-achieved its target this year.
A resident of south Delhi, Ranjan Sharma, said, ‘‘We face the same situation every time it rains. No matter what promises are made the previous year, we see waterlogging and traffic jams nearly everyday during the monsoons. Each agency blames the other for the mess.’’
Meanwhile, according to MCD officials, desiliting is being carried out at night also. Said an MCD official: ‘‘Desilting is a continuous process and will be carried out throughout the year. MCD is also installing silt chambers along the drains to clear these at an early stage.’’
Last Updated on Thursday, 12 August 2010 11:01
Civic body a divided house
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 11:33
administrator
Indian Express 10.08.2010
Civic body a divided house
Express News Service Tags : water Posted: Tue Aug 10 2010, 04:12 hrs Chandigarh: The councillors and officials of the Municipal Corporation are divided over the hike in water tariff. The officials are of the opinion that a hike should made to make up for losses but councillors are against it.
The proposal prepared by the officials that was withdrawn from the House had stated that there needs to be a hike of around 60 to 70 per cent to recover losses. The Centre had recently reminded the Municipal Corporation about increasing the tariff. This is one of the reforms for getting grants under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The agenda is likely to come up for discussion in the House this month.
The elected representatives are, meanwhile, not keen on the proposal. They are of the opinion that if any hike has to take place, it should be minimal. While this would ensure that the condition of implementation of reforms is fulfilled, it would not put much burden on residents.
Congress councillor Pardeep Chhabra says, “Hike in water tariff is necessary as otherwise the grant for JNNURM would be stopped. This would affect the projects running under the scheme. The hike would not be very high. The agenda that was proposed by the officials earlier would be changed. The lowest slab would remain untouched. The higher ones would see a slight increase. The hike in tariff would help curb wastage of water.”
BJP councillor Sarita Devi says that there is no need to put burden on residents. She added that the councillors of the party would oppose any such move. Municipal Commissioner Roshan Sunkaria, meanwhile, says they have proposed a hike that would help cover the financial losses of the civic body. It is after discussion in the House that the final hike would be decided
Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 August 2010 11:34
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