Repair work of damaged Durgapur Barrage gate to be complete by Tuesday

Kolkata: The repairing work of gate number 31 of Durgapur Barrage is likely to be complete by Tuesday morning with round-the-clock work

undertaken by the state government.

The gate was found to be damaged on Saturday morning leaving unchecked water continuously flowing out of the barrage. It led to a panic of scarcity of drinking water among residents of Durgapur, Asansol and even Bankura.

Besides ensuring all steps for fast restoration of the gate, the state government has also made an elaborate arrangement to supply sufficient drinking water in the area.

A senior engineer of the state Irrigation and Waterways department said that water is sipping into the passage where the repairing work has to be carried out. So the first task is to check even little flow of the area and earthmovers have been engaged to carry out the same. The task of turning the channel of gate number 31 dry will be completed by Monday morning. Subsequently in the next 24 hours, the existing gate will be repaired and the water will be released. "After the situation turns normal, we will place a floating gate in front of gate number 31 to replace it with a new one," the officer said.

According to a statement issued by the state government, all measures have been taken to restore the damages gate at the earliest and the state Public Health Engineering (PHE) department has delivered around 1.25 lakh water pouches for West Burdwan district and additional 50,000 pouches were also made available.

Four Mobile Treatment units (MTUs) have been placed in the district with a capacity to produce 20,000 pouches per hour of safe drinking water.

As many as 36 water tanks were pressed at three affected blocks and one municipality in Bankura. Three MTUs with a capacity to produce 15000 pouches per hour have also been placed in Bankura and as of now 40,000 pouches were distributed.

Situation is being monitored continuously from both the state and district level. There is no shortage of drinking water yet. Local civic bodies and panchayats have also made necessary arrangements.

The power generation at Mejia Thermal Power station may also get affected due to the scarcity in supply of water for industrial purposes.