NMC released more water during voting week, reduced it later

Nagpur: Just like petrol and diesel prices see no hike during election dates, the city too mysteriously received more water during the week before voting. Not only did the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) supply double the quantity than recommended by the central government, the hike also happened even though the city is facing severe shortage of raw drinking water.
BJP is the ruling party in the NMC. Union minister Nitin Gadkari was BJP’s candidate while Congress had fielded Nana Patole and the BSP Mohammed Jamal, a corporator himself. Polling for Nagpur Lok Sabha seat was held on April 11.
Data obtained from NMC reveals that it supplied 753.53 million litres per day (MLD) water on V-Day. It was the highest in the last one year. On April 12, supply was down to 709.78 MLD.
The water supplied till March 10, the day on which code of conduct came into force, was below 665 MLD. It gradually increased from March 11 and was 695 MLD till the end of March.
From 690.68 MLD on April 4, the supply jumped over the next five days — between 741-743 MLD. The lowest water supply was 667 MLD and the highest at 709 MLD was between April 12 and 22.
In comparison, the average water supply in April last year was 643.64 MLD with the lowest being 579.36 MLD and the highest 658 MLD. Last year, there was no shortage of raw drinking water.
The city gets raw drinking water from Pench reservoirs and Kanhan river. Totladoh and Kamptee Khairi — the two Pench reservoirs — got less water last monsoon. On April 23, the total storage in Pench reservoirs was 61.36 million meter cube (MMC) as against the capacity of 1,157 MMC.
While Totladoh had 18.76 MMC (1.85%) as against capacity of 1,017 MMC, Kamptee Khairi’s storage was 42.6 MMC (30.01%) as against 142 MMC.
This quantity is unlikely to see the city till the end of summer. The water resources department (WRD) will have to give raw water from dead stock of Totladoh reservoir. To meet city’s water requirement till the end of summer, the WRD provided less water during kharif season and not a single drop during rabbi crop from the Pench reservoir which has been created for irrigation purposes.
Raw water in Kanhan river has gone down to a great extent in March. The NMC is now releasing water from Pench reservoirs into the river.
Citing shortage, the NMC administration had suggested alternate day water supply but the proposal was turned down by the general body in December last year as it was hoping to get water from Madhya Pradesh’s Chaurai dam. Till now, the MP government has not even replied to NMC’s request.
As per the central government thumb rule and Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA), the civic body is supposed to supply 135 litres per capita (person) per day (LPCD). The NMC is already supplying much more than that.
Pegging the city’s population at 25 lakh, the NMC should supply 337.5 MLD water as per the thumb rule. But it is supplying 750 MLD, which is more than double.
Municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar said he was unaware of big deviations in water supply and that he will investigate it.
Congress city president Vikas Thakre and Jamal demanded an inquiry. “It is a major violation of code of conduct, misuse of power and cheating the citizens if water supply had been increased during voting and later reduced. It also means NMC has enough water supply. It should then maintain the same supply level throughout the year. Other types of works were also carried out or expedited before and during polling days,” they said.
Mayor Nanda Jichkar denied any wrongdoing by BJP. “We are totally unaware about the water supply data. We did not even go to NMC during the code of conduct. I will verify after code of conduct is relaxed,” she said.
Collector Ashwin Mudgal said he had not received any such complaint on this issue. “We can only act on receiving a complaint. Violation of code of conduct happens when voters are influenced by any extra activity. It needs to be checked if a hike in water supply was publicised, in public domain or knowledge,” he said.
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