CM to inaugurate filtered water supply scheme today

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate piped water supply scheme for the residents of New Town in Rajarhat on Thursday.

The filtered water will be supplied free of cost as no water tax will be imposed on the people.

The Rs 350 crore project funded by the Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) and completed by the Public Health and Engineering department will meet a longstanding demand of people. It has been completed on record time.  

Indrajit Chowdhury, who stays in an apartment near City Centre II, said: “New Town is the most beautiful place to stay. The drinking water supply will make our lives more comfortable.” 

Another resident Susmita Sen Gupta said, “It is a dream that we will get filtered water from the Hooghly river. I congratulate Mamata Banerjee for successfully improving the infrastructure at New Town.”  

After coming to power, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had formed a group of ministers and asked the engineers to make scheme to provide piped water to the residents of New Town.

It is interesting to note that the erstwhile Left Front government had set up the township without making any provision for piped water supply. Fifty-four deep tubewells were sunk. The environmentalists had raised their voice urging the state government to provide piped water to the people. The then Housing Minister Gautam Deb got more than 10 years time but he failed to implement the water supply scheme.  

Raw water will be lifted from the Hooghly river at Debendrabala ghat. After that the water will be carried to the filtration bed at New Town covering a distance of 19 km. 

The filtered water will be stored in overhead tanks before beginning supplied to the residents. 

Hidco chairman Debashis Sen said the work was on to prepare a schedule for supplying filtered water.