The Indian Express 03.09.2013
Normal water supply to be resumed soon
two days. Water was released in the Phase III pipeline on Monday. While
the repair of the pipeline of Phase IV has been completed, time is being
given for the base to settle. The resumption of normal supply is
expected soon.
Water supply was disrupted when the earth caved in causing damage
to the existing pipelines for Phases III and IV during work for laying
pipelines for Phases V and VI. The damage reduced the water supply to
the city to half. With supply hours being reduced and water not reaching
the upper storeys, the residents were a harassed lot.
Water was released on Monday in the Phase III pipeline. This is
expected to relieve water woes to an extent. It is expected that water
would be released in Phase IV as well by Tuesday.
The disruption in water supply has been going on for around 10 days.
Chief city engineer S S Bida said the water supply would resume
to normal within a day. He said that Phase III had become functional and
water would be released in Phase IV soon.
Meanwhile, Mayor Subhash Chawla posted on his Facebook page a
detailed account of what went wrong with the water supply. He said that
the Kajauli pumping station from where Chandigarh receives water is
located in Punjab. The broken pipelines are being repaired under the
supervision of the Punjab government and the Municipal Corporation has
paid for it. He has further written that the damage was caused due to
ongoing work for laying pipelines that is being undertaken by the Punjab
government.
The Mayor has further questioned the BJP leaders who went to the
site a few days back. Chawla wrote that the president of the Chandigarh
unit of BJP Sanjay Tandon should not misguiding the residents. He
further questioned whether Tandon will demand an inquiry to fix
responsibility for these damages.
The Mayor questioned whether any minister of their party visited and issued directions.
Sanjay Tandon, meanwhile, said the local government cannot be blamed for the crisis.
“Chandigarh should have water reserves amounting to at least 50
per cent of the supply. There is no planning being done. The
requirements have not been taken care of despite the local Congress MP
being a former Water Resources Minister,” he said.
