Rs 129 crore to save Palta plant from riverbank erosion

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has sanctioned Rs 129 crore to protect the Hooghly embankment at Palta, reeling under the effects of soil erosion, endangering the Palta Water Works, which provides drinking water to more than six million residents of Kolkata.



A government contractor has bagged the embankment restoration project, and work is likely to begin from Thursday, said a senior official in KMC’s water supply department.

The restoration or protection of the riverbank at Palta will not be without hurdles, felt a section of civic officials well-versed in the functioning of the water works, especially the crucial work of drawing raw water from the Hooghly mechanically with the help of two intake jetties located within the treatment plant.

Before the actual restoration of the embankment is started by using “sheet piling” technology, the contractor will have to conduct a soil test to determine the character of soil in the area. “We have developed a plan according to which the contractor needs to dig the soil deep for insertion of the steel sheets for protection of the riverbank from soil erosion. We may need to dig as deep as 24 metres. This is a challenging task considering that the sheet piling will go down to a depth deeper than the Hooghly riverbed,” said a senior KMC official of the same department.

The water supply department first noticed the erosion problems in 2012. The matter was discussed, giving due importance to the erosion threat faced by the 150-year-old plant that supplies drinking water to the whole of north, central and major parts of south Kolkata. Accordingly, a proposal was sent to the Centre to fund the restoration project under JnNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission). The proposal, however, was not accepted then, following which it was re-sent to the Union government in 2015. This time, too, the proposal was rejected.

“Finding no other alternative, we approached the state government to fund the embankment restoration. We finally got the state government’s nod a fortnight ago,” said a water supply department official.

A civic official said that the KMC brass had to draw up a comprehensive plan to protect two intake jetties — which draw half of the total water drawn every day from the Hooghly — from erosion. The civic official said the riverbank protection would be done in a 4km radius and it would take more than a year to complete the work.

“To begin with, we need three months for soil testing survey. Then the actual restoration work will start. We may need to take a break during monsoon. The work can’t be completed before the first quarter of 2020,” said an official.