All households under 128 urban local bodies may get tap water by Dec, 2023

KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government has set a target of providing tap water connection in all households located under the 128 urban local bodies across the state by December 2023. The work will be executed under Amrut (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) 2.0 scheme and will complement the work of providing tap water connections to 1..77 crore rural households in Bengal under Jal Swapno project by 2024.

The state water action plan has already been prepared and presently Detailed project report (DPR) is in advanced stage of preparation, a senior official of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department said. Water meters will also be provided along with the tap water connections so that the loss can be ascertained and accordingly steps can be taken to minimise the same.

Among the 128 urban local bodies, around 70 municipalities will require pipeline connections to channelise water to the households with the distribution network already existing.

But in the case of the rest, the infrastructure for the treatment plant, reservoir for storage and distribution network needs to be developed.

The official informed that three municipal corporations — Asansol, Howrah and Siliguri — will require major work under the scheme for providing tap water connections to households. The Rajpur–Sonarpur municipality area that shares its border with Kolkata Municipal Corporation will also need a lot of work for development of the distribution network.Two municipalities in Jhalda at Purulia and Mirik in Darjeeling will require work right from the ground-level to provide tap water connections to households.

Three industrial townships– Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (Salt Lake–Newtown), Golden City Industrial Township at Andal and Sector VI Industrial Township at Bantala will also come under the ambit of the project with the last two requiring major work.

The estimated cost of the entire project will be over Rs 10,000 crore.

"The total number of households that will come under this scheme can be known only after the DPRs in connection with the schemes are prepared," the official added.

According to sources in the state government , the funding ratio will be 60:40 for the state and the Centre in Amrut 2.0 which was 50: 50 for Amrut I where the total expenditure was to the tune of Rs 4035 crore.

The span of Amrut 2.0, as stated by the Centre is March 2026, but in case of Bengal, December 2023 has been targeted to accomplish the project.

The Amrut scheme was launched in June 2015 to ensure that all urban households have assured tap water and sewerage connections.