Jalpaiguri dist admin accelerates efforts for swift completion of ‘Jal Swapna’ projects

Jalpaiguri: In a virtual meeting on Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a firm directive to expedite the completion of the ‘Jal Swapna’ project across districts. Responding promptly, the Jalpaiguri district administration and the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department took immediate action, with District Magistrate Shama Parveen personally overseeing the progress in Maynaguri on Wednesday.

Before the inspection, Parveen chaired a meeting with PHE officials at her office, resolving land issues for 25 pending projects. Of the 25 projects delayed due to land disputes, 13 were resolved during the meeting. Following this, she visited Maynaguri to inspect progress and tackle remaining challenges.

Although the state-wide completion target has been extended to next year, Jalpaiguri’s progress remains at 49 per cent, with

water connections provided to only 2,00,368 of the targeted 4,03,680 households.

One significant challenge has been resistance from locals in areas like Paharpur Panchayat, where the PHE began laying pipelines on government land. Disputes over land, electric lines and ongoing court cases have slowed work.

“We are facing local-level obstructions despite working on government land,” said Somnath Chowdhury, Executive Engineer, PHE. “Issues related to pipelines, electric lines and legal disputes have hindered progress.

Otherwise, the project would have achieved 70 per cent completion.”

Zilla Parishad’s Karmadhakshya for Janasastha-O-Paribesh Sthayee Samity, Mahua Gope, announced that officials would begin field visits from Thursday to mediate disputes and facilitate the project’s advancement.

During her visit, Parveen emphasised the project’s importance to local residents. “This project is for the people. While substantial progress has been made in several blocks, unresolved issues in pipe-laying are delaying water supply,” she said.