The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : ‘Silk city’ bracing up for yet another scorching summer

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Sunday, Apr 13, 2008
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‘Silk city’ bracing up for yet another scorching summer

Staff Reporter

Water crisis looms large as none of the proposed projects is over

BERHAMPUR: With the onset of summer, another year of rhetoric and promises regarding solutions to the perennial drinking water crisis in the city passed without any practical measures being taken up. The drinking water supply to the city has not increased since last summer. But the promises of projects to alleviate the problem continued to flow. The city needs around 46 million litres of water per day (MLD) but it gets a supply of only 33 MLD. This supply falls in summer to around 27 MLD. So, drinking water crisis plays a major role in the local politics.

In April last year an innovative idea was proposed at a review meeting about meeting the drinking water crisis of the city. This meeting was chaired by Berhampur MP and Union Minister Chandrasekhar Sahu.

The idea was to connect the large tanks of the city to take their water to Dakhinpur reservoir which was to be supplied to the city after purification. But the idea seems to be forgotten. There was also proposal of the Ghatakeswar project, which was to be finished by 2010. As per plans a portion of water collected at the reservoir of this project was to be supplied to Berhampur city. But the work on the project is yet to start. The irony is that the foundation stone for this project has been laid twice in the past.

MLA RCC Patnaik claims Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was very much keen to solve drinking water shortage. But practically none of the proposed projects has taken off. The Chief Minister had laid the foundation stone for the renovation of the old reservoir at Dakshinpur to increase its capacity to step up water supply to the city. .

The MLA adds the NABARD has already sanctioned Rs. 23.99 crore for a project that would supply the water to at least 80,000 people of the city.

There are also reports that the Centre had sanctioned money for a new water treatment plant to provide 15 MLD of extra water to the city after its completion. Apart from it inhabitants of the city still await the long-term projects like Cheligada project and the project to bring water by pipeline from Bhanjanagar to Dakhinpur.

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