Residents yet to get water from project unveiled by CM

BARGARH :  Residents of Bargarh are yet to get water from a project which was launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on February 26 this year. The “Augmentation of Water Supply to Bargarh Municipality” project was inaugurated by Naveen through video conferencing at the State Secretariat. It will benefit 1.1 lakh people of the town.

 As per reports, the 19.5 million litre capacity drinking water project for Bargarh town will serve the requirement of the urban centre for the next 15 years. The drinking water project, which comes under  Buxi Jagabandhu Assured Drinking Water to All Habitation (BASUDHA) scheme, has been set up at a cost of `37.23 crore.

The project has been set up at Bargaon on the outskirts of Bargarh town and water is being drawn from the west canal of Bargarh under Hirakud dam project. The project comprises a 15 MLD (million litres per day ) water treatment plant, 12.80 km water pipeline, 67.44 km distribution system, four elevated service reservoirs having a capacity of 4.15 million litre and four ground level service reservoirs having a capacity of 1.85 million litre.

Naveen had laid the foundation stone for the project in 2009 at Bargaon and work on the project began in 2011. Although the time period for completion of the project was 11 months, work was stopped midway after the firm left the work midway. Subsequently, another firm was engaged to complete the work. However, the struggle of the people of Bargarh town for drinking water still continues even after inauguration of the project.

Currently, Bargarh town gets water supply of 4.5 MLD against its requirement of 14.82 MLD. The town presently gets water from Jeera river, which flows through the town besides deep bore wells spread across the town.Assistant Executive Engineer, PHEO, Bargarh, Gunanidhi Pradhan said certain work on the distribution system is underway. However, the people of Bargarh town will get water from the project within five to seven days, he added.