In 3 yrs, 246 cases of water supply breakdown recorded

Ramkrishan Upadhyay 

Tribune news service 

Chandigarh, February 10 

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has prepared a plan of over Rs 100 crore to replace old pipelines — which have been witnessing frequent breakdowns causing disruption in the water supply — during the third and fourth phases of the Kajauli waterworks.

A senior officer of the MC said 27 km of pipelines of the third and fourth phases were made of the pre-compressed concrete (PCC) structure, which witnessed frequent leakage. Sources said in the last three years, 246 cases of breakdown of water supply had been reported due to leakage. 

Some of those were minor but many required shutdown of the water supply resulting in inconvenience to residents. An officer said while the pipelines of the first and second phases were laid using the MS technology, those in the next two phases were laid using the PCC technology. He said in the PCC technology, the pipeline had rubber joints at every 5-m distance, which was the main reason of leakage. In the MS technology, the pipelines are made of steel and iron and the joints are made by welding. 

The MC is also laying the MS technology while laying the pipelines used for the fifth and sixth phases. He said the MC had prepared an estimate of Rs 100 crore for the project and a demand for money would be raised before the administration. 

The Municipal Corporation is all set to complete the works of fifth and sixth phases of the Kajauli water project by February 20.  The project will pave the way for providing a round-the-clock water supply to city residents. An officer of the MC said to ensure that the residents get an uninterrupted supply, there was urgent need to replace old pipelines. Meanwhile, the Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) has also started the process to finalise the DPR for seeking a loan of Rs 550 crore from a French development bank, AFD, to execute the pan-city 24X7 water supply project.

Low water pressure today, tomorrow

Several sectors in the city faced water shortage on Sunday. While some sectors got water supply for one to two hours, in some sectors residents complained of not getting a single drop of the water throughout the day. Col Pritam Bhullar (retd), a resident of Sector 2, said there was no water supply in the morning and evening hours. On Saturday, the MC had announced that the supply in the entire city would be at low pressure in the morning, while it would be normal in the evening. It is expected that there will be low water pressure for next 2 days due to the ongoing work of intake sump at the take off point at Kajauli for connection of phase 5 and 6.