IE : Civic body aims at 24×7 water supply by 2012 : Oct 25,2007

Mumbai, October 24 After receiving weekly complaints regarding irregular and inadequate water supply by corporators the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation gave a presentation of the ‘24X7’ water supply project that the civic administration propose to complete by 2012. ‘Sujal Mumbai’—the long term, futuristic and multi-pronged mission—assures continuous water supply by undertaking a few water reforms.
The presentation for the long-term project was given at the Standing Committee meeting that was held on Wednesday. The committee also gave their unanimous approval to the appointment of zone-wise contractors for repair, maintenance and emergency works of water department for immediate relief.

Following an hour-long discussion by committee members regarding inadequate water supply, illegal connections and leakages, Additional Municipal Commissioner (projects) Manu Kumar Shrivastava gave a presentation on the 24X7 water supply plan. “It is not a dream. Mumbai too, like other international cities, can provide continuous supply of water in its present condition. The city has enough water to switch from an intermittent system to supplying water 24X7,’’ he said.

The BMC currently supplies around 3,350 MLD water to over 1.3 crore citizens through the intermittent system. However, there are complaints regarding the quantity, quality, hours of supply of water along with unaccounted for water. Shrivastava said the solutions for these problems were continuous supply, upgradation of slum network (to a prepaid water supply system), creation of pressure zones and improving the customer service system.

“Under ‘Sujal Mumbai’, we will undertake certain reforms like telescopic tariff, universal metering and leakage reduction. Once this is done, the day will not be far for 24X7 water supply,’’ he said.
However, members seemed to be far from convinced. “This plan is like plastic surgery when what we need is immediate attention to our burns,’’ said member Yogesh Sagar. Other members also said that ‘Sujal Mumbai’ will not solve the immediate problems of their wards.

Replying to such queries, Shrivastava said for immediate relief, the civic administration’s proposal for appointing zone-wise contractors for six zones for undertaking maintenance, repairs and emergency operations related to the Hydraullic Engineer’s department has been approved. The proposal was tabled with the Standing Committee for approval on Wednesday. The repair and maintenance work which was earlier undertaken by water department at the ward-level will now be outsourced due to shortage of manpower and inadequate machinery. Each zone contractor will be allotted around Rs 20 crore for carrying out the repair and maintenance work.Publication : IE; Section : News; Pg : 3; Date : 25/10/07

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