BMC doesn’t have water to spare for construction sites
Work on Smart road, Sadar Manjil renovation, bus terminal, housing project may be effected affected
BHOPAL: Bhopal Municipal Corporation’s much touted projects including smart city road may hit a roadblock as the city is reeling under acute water shortage.
With level of water in Upper Lake and Kolar at threatening low, the civic authorities are unable to meet the water needs of thousands of households. In a situation like this the BMC will have to choose between ensuring water to people to meet daily requirement and supplying it for its civil constructional projects.
With each passing say water level in Upper Lake and Kolar is going down and municipal body has herculean task on hands to ensure water supply in the areas dependent on these two water bodies. River Narmada though is the saving grace for the civic authorities, however, it is only meeting requirement of certain areas. The localities like old city, Kolar, where there is no Narmada water connection, are facing acute water shortage as in the coming days supply from Kolar and Upper lake will also be have to discontinued.
BMC Mayor Alok Sharma admitted that city is facing water shortage issues but claimed that the civic body was ensuring water to households better than other cities. If rains arrived on time then there will not be any issue but if it failed then we have to take other steps including a halt on construction works.
While BMC is looking for other source of water to cater to meet household demands, it might also put on hold work at its construction sites for now. Around 1 per cent of the total cost of a project is reserved for water resource consumption.
Work on Smart road, Sadar Manjil renovation, bus terminal at MP Nagar, housing project at TT Nagar Dussehra Maidan and Bolevard Street are underway. A good amount of water is being used at the construction sites, which the civic authority cannot afford now, not at coast of people’s need. These ambitious projects will have to be put on hold if BMC mulls on diverting water allocated for these project to public use. There are speculations that a few big projects will be deferred if rain did not arrive on time.
