Jalpaiguri misses AMRUT water deadline, supply likely from Jan

Jalpaiguri: The Jalpaiguri Municipality will miss its December deadline to provide piped drinking water to every household under the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) project, as the work remains incomplete.

Municipal officials have assured residents that water supply will begin from early January.

The Chief Engineer’s office of the Municipal Engineering Department (North Bengal) has instructed the Executive Engineer of Jalpaiguri to complete all pending work within December. In the first phase, treated water from the Teesta River will be supplied to around 19,000 households. The Chief Minister had inaugurated the lifting of water from the Teesta before Durga Puja, with water routed through an infiltrator gallery to the water treatment plant.

From the start of the new year, water will be pumped to reservoirs and distributed through pipelines. At present, Jalpaiguri’s drinking water system depends largely on groundwater extraction. Over the past three years, falling groundwater levels have forced the municipality to shut several reservoirs and build new ones elsewhere in the town.

To address these issues, a Rs 350-crore AMRUT water project, jointly funded by the Centre and the state, was launched.

Under the project, five million gallons of water per day can be drawn from the Teesta River, stored in an infiltrator gallery, treated at the Vivekanandapalli water treatment plant, and supplied to the town. Once fully operational, 22 million litres of purified drinking water will be delivered daily. In the second phase, another 14,000 households will be covered.

Municipal Chairman Saikat Chatterjee said: “The department had taken extra time to complete the remaining work, stressing the municipality’s responsibility to provide safe drinking water.”

Explaining the delay, Asim Kumar Dey, Executive Engineer, said: “Pipeline bends must be installed at nearly 100 locations, while delays in receiving sluices, air valves, and fittings slowed progress. Work has resumed in the Old Police Line area.”

He added that although supply will begin in January, the water will not be potable for the first month and will initially be used for washing and sanitation until testing is completed.