Unpaid power bill triggers 26-hour shutdown of Ganga water plants in Ghaziabad, supply restored after DM steps in

Ghaziabad/Noida: Multiple sectors in Noida and Ghaziabad faced supply problems ranging from low pressure to poor quality following 26-hour disruption of Ganga water treatment plants (WTPs) at Pratap Vihar and Sidharth Vihar which suspended operations on Wednesday after power was snapped by the electricity department due to unpaid bills by UP Jal Nigam totalling Rs 3.54 crore. The supply was disrupted from 2pm on Wednesday afternoon to 4.50pm on Thursday.
UP Jal Nigam officials sought intervention by Ghaziabad DM Deepak Meena on Thursday, resulting in resumption of supply from both plants by Thursday evening.
Jal Nigam executive engineer Brahmanand told TOI the DM instructed power department officials to restore the supply to both plants after talks with Noida authority officials. PVVNL chief engineer (zone 1) Ashok Sundaram said, "We resumed the power supply on the DM's assurance that Rs 2 crore will be transferred to the discom account from Noida Authority through RTGS by Friday morning," he said. According to officials, the remaining amount will be paid by GMC soon.
Due to the supply disruption, underground reservoirs provided limited water with reduced pressure. Some areas received poor quality water that appeared blackish and unusable also. Areas affected by low pressure included Indirapuram, Vasundhara, Vaishali, and Kaushambi in Ghaziabad, alongside various Noida sectors. Residents relied on stored water, which was depleted by Thursday afternoon.
Deepak Sharma, RWA president of Noida Sector 105, flagged dirty water in taps, which was unusable for domestic and daily chores.
KK Jain RWA chairmen of Sector 34 complained about supply shortages along with low pressure, while Bhushan Sharma RWA secretary of PK Abadi block in Sector 122 said around 200 houses in the area were affected.
"We have been facing a water shortage for 3-4 days. This was escalated on Thursday, following the shutdown. The water is supplied either late or it is stopped before the declared time. There was no information of supply shutdown from the water department either," Sector 19 RWA general secretary Laxmi Narain.
Noida's daily water demand is approximately 407 million litres per day (MLD), with the authority supplying 480 MLD. This includes 240 MLD from the Upper Ganga Canal and the rest from groundwater.
Ghaziabad's daily water requirement is around 345 MLD, with GMC supplying 320 MLD, of which approximately 55 MLD is Ganga water, with the remaining sourced from groundwater. Of the total requirement, Pratap Vihar treatment plant provides 120 MLD of Ganga water to areas in Noida and colonies under GMC, UP Housing Board and GDA, while the Sidharth Vihar plant provides 245 MLD water, with Noida receiving 80% and Ghaziabad the rest.