Tank relief for thirsty slums in Odisha

ROURKELA: With areas of Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) likely to be covered under pipe supply by 2020, Public Health and Engineering Organisation (PHEO) is gearing up with interim measures to make water available at hard-hit uncovered pockets.

During peak summer, vast slum pockets not having pipe supply face acute water scarcity with tube-wells also failing due to drop in groundwater level.Administrative sources informed that the then Rourkela ADM K Sudershan Chakravorty in 2015 had started the practice of storing water in multiple PVC tanks in the affected areas.

PHEO Executive Engineer Anup Patel said they have 60 PVC tanks each with 1,000-litre capacity. From April to June, the tanks would be placed at water-starved slum areas including Gopabandhupali, Madhusudanpali, Jagda, Deogaon and Tarkera. He said the PHEO has three own tankers and if required, private ones would be hired to ensure adequate availability of water.

Patel said the PHEO has 1,689 functional tube-wells. Besides, adequate stock of spares for tube-wells are available and two vehicles have been pressed into service to repair defunct ones in short time. He said with these arrangements, water woes of 60,000 to 70,000 people in five Wards under RMC limits would be mitigated. The ongoing drinking water projects on completion would be able to extend piped water supply to all areas by 2020, he added.

Meanwhile, a water distribution project worth Rs 7.23 crore is likely to be functional within a month in Jagda much to the relief of its residents. The Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) is creating cross-bunds on Koel river to store water for its captive township. Besides, the PHEO would also be able to draw water for Jagda, Koel Nagar and Shakti Nagar areas.

Gopabandhupali, the largest slum cluster, remains to be fully covered with piped water supply. A couple of years back, six deep bore-wells were installed by three oil marketing companies in the area. It was envisaged to construct overhead tanks and supply water from the deep bore-wells through pipelines. However, functional deep bore-wells of BPCL are yet to have overhead tanks while one deep bore-well of HPCL is lying defunct. Two deep bore-wells installed from the MPLAD fund of Union Minister Jual Oram are supplying water directly through two dozens of stand posts at Timber Colony, informed former Municipality councillor Pramila Das.

Cross-bunds on Koel river to store water

Adequate stock of spares for tube-wells are available and two vehicles have been pressed into service to repair defunct ones in short time
A water distribution project worth Rs 7.23 crore is likely to be functional within a month in Jagda much to the relief of its residents.
The Rourkela Steel Plant is creating cross-bunds on Koel river to store water for its captive township.