Over 16K homes to have new drinking water tap connections

Balurghat Municipality is providing new drinking water tap connections covering 22 wards. The cost of the project will be to the tune of Rs 15 crore.

Speaking to Millennium Post, municipal chairman Ashok Mitra said: “A total number of 16,318 households will be covered under this category. The total area has been divided into four zones. A fund of Rs 15 crore has been sanctioned for the work.”

According to him, the water connections will be given through the Surface Water Treatment Plant after purifying the water of River Atreyee.

“Of the 25 wards, work is on in 22. The remaining wards — 13, 14 and 15 — were included in the Balurghat Municipality from the Chakvrigu area recently. We will provide similar facility in the three wards soon through the Iron Elimination Plant (IEP) station,” he added. In order to provide water connections, the land acquisition process for the IEP station is underway. Reservoirs will have to be set up too. Underground water will be drawn out and fed to the IEP station for purification. Finally, the purified water will be distributed to the households through an underground pipeline network, informed the chairman. Mitra said the concerned civic board has already given water connections to around 4,000 households so far in the 22 wards. “We have set a target to cover another 16,318 households by the end of 2023. We will provide purified drinking water to all households of 22 wards,” he said.

He added that the work for setting up the new supply-lines has also been undertaken.

“In some areas, we have to set up new supply-lines for water connection as some areas are devoid of any supply-line. A fund of Rs 2 crore is allocated for laying out the new pipelines. Work is on,” Mitra added.