Six municipalities get clearance to set up water supply projects

Six municipalities have received clearance to set up water supply projects under Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation (AMRUT).

Under AMRUT, 50 per cent of the cost will be borne by the Centre while the state governments will bear another 45 per cent cost and the remaining 5 per cent will be borne by the concerned municipality.

The target for opening of the water supply projects will be three years. A high level meeting to discuss the matter was held in the office of the chief secretary Basudeb Banerjee on Saturday. Senior officials of Urban Development department including its principal secretary BP Gopalika were present at the meeting. It was decided that water will be taken from Hooghly and other rivers and then purified before supplying it to the households. The water supply projects will come up mainly in the Arsenic prone areas where the state government has imposed a ban on construction of deep tube-wells.

The municipalities where the water supply projects will come up are Bankura, Darjeeling, Ashoknagar- Kalyangar, Habra, Bongaon and Burdwan. It has been decided that of the six, financial assistance will be given to four municipalities depending on the detailed project report (DPR) submitted by them. The committee led by the chief secretary will examine the DPR before giving them the sanction.

The Bankura municipality will get Rs 100 crore for the water supply project while Darjeeling, Ashoknagar, Habra, Bongaon and Burdwan  water supply schemes will get Rs 205 crore, Rs 55 crore, Rs 100 crore and Rs 105 crore respectively. 

The water supply schemes will resolve the crises of drinking in these civic bodies. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has laid maximum stress on the drinking of filtered water. All the municipalities along the river Hooghly including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) have taken steps to provide more drinking water to the residents. It may also be recalled that the residents of New Town area are getting filtered water now.