After a longish meeting with water experts from all wings of the government and elsewhere, I decided to have a dedicated raw water pipeline for the New Town, Rajarhat.
Here is a link to a story: http://epratidin.in/Details.aspx?id=9755&boxid=3315671
Sir, Congrats on your appointment to HIDCO and also your laudable efforts to keep us netizens informed on Kolkata and Newtown issues. I am also interested in Newtown's development personally as I am a plotholder and hope to settle there eventually. Looking forward, how about initiating proper e-governance initiatives in HIDCO to enable many of us to address our queries by say, an e-mail ? The Website could have a "contact us " link and the staff properly trained to respond to queries.
One update came on today's TOI: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Water-problem-in-Rajarhat-to-end-soon/articleshow/10486338.cms
Water problem in Rajarhat to end soon Suman Chakraborti, TNN | Oct 25, 2011, 02.17PM IST
KOLKATA: The perennial problem of bringing water from river Hooghly to Rajarhat New Town for providing drinking water to residents has finally been solved. It has been decided in a meeting on Monday that pipelines will be laid from the river to Rajarhat. The earlier plan to flow in water through the canal has been scrapped.
"We have been pondering over which plan to implement. Finally it has been decided that the state Public Health Engineering (PHE) department will implement the project. A committee has been formed to delve into the plan and Hidco will sanction the project cost, pegged at Rs 200 crore. A detailed project report on this will now be prepared," said Hidco chairman-cum-managing director Debasis Sen. PHE hopes to complete the project within 18 months.
Officials said a 20-million-gallon water tank is ready at New Town. However, about 100 million gallons will be required daily once the entire township comes up. Initially, about 20 million gallons would be flown in from the river and purified for supply of drinking water. It would take another five to six years to meet the remaining demand of 80 million gallons.
Earlier, two committees had been set up to examine the feasibility of the previous plan - proposed by the Hidco board during Left rule - to flow in water through the canal and the new one. The committees comprised officials from PHE, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority(KMDA) and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). During Left rule, the Hidco board did not work out any plan as the move to run ferry services on Kestopur canal through which river water was being flown in was abandoned. The canal then returned to its old state of a filthy drainage channel.
Supplying purified drinking water for Rajarhat residents has been a long-standing problem for the authorities.
Residents have been complaining that the water that they consume now has very high iron content. At present, the authorities are pumping out underground water.
All good work also gets criticism, but I did not find any merit The Statesman's recent news article: http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=394717&catid=72
It says "No meeting has yet been held to prepare a scheme to provide pipe water to the area" whereas there were many public news about HIDCO's initiative on same and alternatives. All other allegations quoting " Senior Hidco officials” sounds coming out of wrong motivation.
I do not understand Statesman's frustration. They need some serious briefing to set their records straight.
One more from The Statesman (by same reporter - Mr. Tarun Goswami) on similar line: http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=395200&catid=73
Sir, Congrats on your appointment to HIDCO and also your laudable efforts to keep us netizens informed on Kolkata and Newtown issues. I am also interested in Newtown's development personally as I am a plotholder and hope to settle there eventually.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward, how about initiating proper e-governance initiatives in HIDCO to enable many of us to address our queries by say, an e-mail ?
The Website could have a "contact us " link and the staff properly trained to respond to queries.
Thanks..We'll come out with an e-friendly interface in the medium term: but individual query handling will take time
ReplyDeleteOne update came on today's TOI:
ReplyDeletehttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Water-problem-in-Rajarhat-to-end-soon/articleshow/10486338.cms
Water problem in Rajarhat to end soon
Suman Chakraborti, TNN | Oct 25, 2011, 02.17PM IST
KOLKATA: The perennial problem of bringing water from river Hooghly to Rajarhat New Town for providing drinking water to residents has finally been solved. It has been decided in a meeting on Monday that pipelines will be laid from the river to Rajarhat. The earlier plan to flow in water through the canal has been scrapped.
"We have been pondering over which plan to implement. Finally it has been decided that the state Public Health Engineering (PHE) department will implement the project. A committee has been formed to delve into the plan and Hidco will sanction the project cost, pegged at Rs 200 crore. A detailed project report on this will now be prepared," said Hidco chairman-cum-managing director Debasis Sen. PHE hopes to complete the project within 18 months.
Officials said a 20-million-gallon water tank is ready at New Town. However, about 100 million gallons will be required daily once the entire township comes up. Initially, about 20 million gallons would be flown in from the river and purified for supply of drinking water. It would take another five to six years to meet the remaining demand of 80 million gallons.
Earlier, two committees had been set up to examine the feasibility of the previous plan - proposed by the Hidco board during Left rule - to flow in water through the canal and the new one. The committees comprised officials from PHE, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority(KMDA) and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). During Left rule, the Hidco board did not work out any plan as the move to run ferry services on Kestopur canal through which river water was being flown in was abandoned. The canal then returned to its old state of a filthy drainage channel.
Supplying purified drinking water for Rajarhat residents has been a long-standing problem for the authorities.
Residents have been complaining that the water that they consume now has very high iron content. At present, the authorities are pumping out underground water.
Water Treatment Plant for Saltlake-Newtown:
ReplyDeletehttp://epratidin.in/Details.aspx?id=5901&boxid=12513484
All good work also gets criticism, but I did not find any merit The Statesman's recent news article:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=394717&catid=72
It says "No meeting has yet been held to prepare a scheme to provide pipe water to the area" whereas there were many public news about HIDCO's initiative on same and alternatives. All other allegations quoting " Senior Hidco officials” sounds coming out of wrong motivation.
I do not understand Statesman's frustration. They need some serious briefing to set their records straight.
One more from The Statesman (by same reporter - Mr. Tarun Goswami) on similar line:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=395200&catid=73