No govt effort on canal-based water supply project in city

Charanjit Singh Teja
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, December 28

Though Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had announced canal-based potable water supply system to address the water crisis last year, no effort has been made in this direction so far. Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation (MC) has been spending a huge amount of money on installing tube wells to meet the requirement of the public.

The MC is going to install 20 new tube wells in various localities of the city. The tube wells are causing water depletion. Besides, water is getting contaminated, reportedly. Some health hazard elements have been found in the groundwater in the surveys conducted the by Water Supply and Sanitation Board.

Experts have also advocated the usage of Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC), generally known as Sultanwind Canal or Beas river, to replace the groundwater.

“Since the announcement, there has been no development on implementation of the canal-based water supply. Instead of wasting money on installation of tube wells, the state government should make efforts in the right direction,” said Jatinderpal Singh, a local resident.

As per the previous estimates, it requires Rs 600 crore for extracting water from canal and its treatment. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had announced the World Bank-aided project to provide canal-based drinking water supply in the city in August 2017. Earlier, former CM Parksah Singh Badal had proposed the same plan.

According to the government’s plan, the surface water scheme will replace the existing groundwater supply, thus addressing the serious concern of the region which is facing groundwater depletion and cases of vector-borne diseases. Earlier in the SAD-BJP regime, the MC had sent a detailed report on the project to the World Bank and the state government, but the government dropped the plan.