Alipurduar civic body issues Rs 2.7 cr work order for expanding drinking water proj

Alipurduar: The Alipurduar Municipality has issued a Rs 2.7 crore work order to advance its ambitious drinking water project, aiming to provide doorstep water delivery to every household in the municipality by the end of next year. The initiative, which began in 2018, now spans all 20 wards in the district headquarters, divided into five operational zones.

Prosenjit Kar, Chairman of Alipurduar Municipality, shared updates on the project: “We have sanctioned Rs 2.71 crore for work in Zones D and E of the drinking water project. Work orders for main water lines in Zones A and B have already been issued and Zone C will follow soon. We are confident that every household in all 20 wards will have access to piped water by next year. While this is a challenging task, we are making rapid progress.”

Kar also highlighted recent infrastructure developments, adding: “The last major demand from residents was solid waste management, which we have successfully addressed. We request

residents to wait a little longer for drinking water delivery to be completed.”

The project currently covers 21,000 families in the municipality. Work on installing 100 mm pipelines in Zone A is ongoing, with Rs 2.12 crore allocated for the effort. The municipality confirmed that 150 mm pipelines have been completed in two zones, while reservoirs have been constructed at strategic locations to store filtered water sourced from the Kaljani and Nonai rivers. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 110 crore, with the second phase set to benefit over 17,000 additional households. The municipality, established in 1957, had reportedly seen little progress in ensuring universal water access until 2011. However, under the directive of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, significant momentum has been achieved over the past five years.