The Times of India           13.10.2010

KMC pumps out of order, taps dry up

KOLKATA: Large areas across south Kolkata went dry on Wednesday as several pumps in the Garden Reach water treatment plant went out of order at the same time.

Trouble started on Monday when a couple of pumps started malfunctioning. The situation worsened on Tuesday after three major pumps went out of order. These pumps draw raw water from the Hooghly which is filtered at the plant and supplied to households. Though mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Tuesday said normal supply would be resumed by Wednesday afternoon, sources in the KMC water supply department conceded that regular supply could only be restored by Thursday morning.

So, when urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya was busy attending the inauguration of a new water treatment plant on Tuesday at Akra in the city's southern fringes, KMC water supply department officials had their fingers crossed. Since the Garden Reach water treatment plant supplies water to almost entire south Kolkata, municipal commissioner Arnab Roy has asked the KMC water supply department to take the restoration of water on a war footing. Some of the areas which could get severely affected include Garden Reach, Behala, Jadavpur, Kasba and parts of Tollygunge.