When will Guwahati have adequate water supply?

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: More than a decade after their commencement, not a single of the four 24X7 drinking water-supply schemes is ready.

This is the condition even after Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal visited one of these water supply projects in the city last year. He had taken stock of the progress and also directed the 'Japan International Cooperation Agency' (JICA) to commission the first phase of the project before October 2019.

Way back in 2009, the then Congress Government initiated four ambitious schemes to provide 24X7 drinking water to the residents of Guwahati. These were the 'South West Guwahati Water Supply Project' funded by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the 'South Central Guwahati Water Supply Project' funded by the JICA, the 'North Guwahati Water Supply Project' also funded by the JICA and the 'South East Guwahati Water Supply Project' funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Guwahati Development Department Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharjyya recently said that 96 per cent work of the 'South West Guwahati Water Supply Project' had been completed. He also claimed that the project would be commissioned soon. Sources, however, said that the project will not be completed before 2021.

"Only 50 per cent work each of the 'South Central Guwahati Water Supply Project', the 'North Guwahati Water Supply Project' and the 'South East Guwahati Water Supply Project' has been completed. Going by the slow pace of work, the rest of these projects will not be completed even before 2025," the source said.

The present requirement of water for the 10 lakh plus population in Guwahati city is about 132 million litres of water per day (MLD); against which, the government agencies such as the Guwahati Municipal Corporation, the Public Health Engineering and the Assam Urban Water Supply & Sewerage Board are supplying only 79 MLD.

Sources claimed that the city's daily drinking water requirement will go up to 350 MLD by 2025.

With the government agencies failing to provide drinking water, the private water carriers are making huge profits by supplying water at high prices. City residents still don't know when they would be able to get adequate supply of piped water at their houses.

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