Old Malda Municipality to have water meters in every household

Malda: To stop wastage of purified drinking water, the Old Malda Municipality (OMM) is going to introduce meters in water connections in every household. A certain amount of water will be delivered free-of-cost but any excess to that will be chargeable.

The project will be done under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT 2). The approval for this has already reached the municipality.

Karthik Ghosh, chairman of Old Malda Municipality, said: “For the extra water usage beyond the free limit, the residents have to pay according to the meter bill. Recently a proposal was sent by the municipality for extension of desalinated drinking water plant under Amrut 2 project. The approval has been received. In all the areas where drinking water pipelines are not laid, new pipelines will be laid. More overhead tanks will be constructed. Also new and old potable water connections will have meters. All this will be done as per guidelines of the State Urban Development Agency(SUDA).”

Since 2015, the residents of OMM area have been getting purified drinking water service. Initially, arrangements were made to deliver drinking water to a few thousand families by the then municipality.

In 2023, the number of families in the municipal area has increased to about 22,000. The number of wards has also increased to 20. At present, 12,000 families have drinking water connections in the municipal area. So it became very important to modernise the purified drinking water supply system.

Safiqul Islam, vice-chairman of Old Malda Municipality, said: “We are to supply purified drinking water to every resident. For the modernisation and expansion of the intake point and purification of water, we sent a detailed project report (DPR) to AMRUT 2 for financial approval, the approval of which has come to us.”

Islam further added that OMM is divided into three zones on the basis of the work. Ward number 1 to 6 will be in the first zone, 7 to 11 and ward number 19 and 20 have been zoned second. Ward 12 to 18 is the third zone.

Each zone has an overhead tank. Treated drinking water flows from the intake point to this overhead tank. From there the water goes to the households. The number of overhead tanks in each zone will be increased. The new pipeline laying work will

be started.