 |
|
||
 |
|||
| Improve Your World | Home | About Us | Sitemap | Search | Contact Us | ||
|
|
||||||||
| Also see : Rainwater Harvesting, Water |
| Please help us in making this a comprehensive resource section for those directly connected or affected by this issue e.g. citizens, NGOs, government officers, students, teachers, researchers. Please directly upload or email us relevant content. This can include lists, articles, photographs, research papers, links to websites, etc. Please volunteer as an expert panelist to whom we can direct queries from our website visitors. |
| Home >> Water : News Articles >> Water : News Articles |   Email this Page |
|
|||
|
THIRST QUENCHER State Draws Up Rs 261-Crore Plan To Ensure Metro Region Gets Water Even During Disasters Prafulla Marpakwar I TNN The memories of being inundated by nearly a metre of rain last July 26 are still fresh. Around 1,100 people died in the flood that followed. Road and rail networks, power and water supplies and telecommunications services in Mumbai and the surrounding region collapsed. But if the state government has its way, Mumbai will not have to do without at least drinking water-even if 26/7 recurs-by the monsoon of 2008. Water pipes in several parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) were damaged that day last year and people had to go without drinking water for a couple of days, officials admitted. "Our new plan will take care of at least this problem,'' said Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) chief engineer Sanjay Dahasahasra. The state-run MJP has drafted an ambitious Rs 261-crore plan to interlink waterworks in the MMR to ensure that civic organisations are able to provide at least drinking water to the entire population. "We are sure we will be able to provide drinking water to affected areas within 24 hours of a disaster of any magnitude striking the region,'' Dahasahasra said. Water pipelines in several parts of the region were severely damaged and engineers found it difficult to locate the exact spots where the damage had occurred. "It was a complex problem of having to supply water to parched regions that were, ironically, under water. It actually turned into a major law-and-order problem in some areas,'' Dahasahasra remarked. Engineers finally borrowed water from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and the supply was injected into the civic network at three spots. "But the manner in which we drew water from MIDC prompted us to draft a new idea. Principal secretary Vishwas Dhumal suggested the interlinking of all watersupply schemes, on the lines of the power grid, in the entire MMR to tackle such a disaster,'' he added. MJP technocrats and bureaucrats held several meetings, visited the major schemes and interacted with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials to draft the scheme after they got the go-ahead. "We are ready with the entire scheme now. All schemes, except those supplying water to BMC areas, will be implemented before the next monsoon and the plan for BMC areas will be implemented a year after that,'' Dahasahasra said. The plan for BMC areas is the costliest at Rs 187.19 crore. Rs 41.39 crore will be required for Mira-Bhayandar, Rs 17.21 crore for the other five municipal corporations and 13 municipal councils, and Rs 15 crore for logistics. URL : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA2LzEyLzA4I0FyMDA0MDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom |
| Also see : Rainwater Harvesting, Water |
