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Waterworks agrees to supply extra millions of gallons free

By Rajesh Kumar, Section Water
Posted on Wed Mar 23, 2005 at 04:32:35 AM EST

The commissioning cloud over the Rs 30-crore Kalighat booster pumping station was dispelled on Tuesday, with CMDA chief executive officer P.R. Baviskar agreeing to supply filtered water to it from the Garden Reach waterworks free of cost for the time being.

The city civic authorities had sought an additional supply of 10 million gallons a day from the Garden Reach waterworks to run the Kalighat booster station, scheduled to be commissioned by Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday.

On Monday, Calcutta Metropolitan Water and Sanitation Authority (CMWSA) chief engineer S.N. Chatterjee had conveyed his inability to supply extra water from Garden Reach free of cost. That spurred mayor Subrata Mukherjee and municipal commissioner Debashis Som to meet Baviskar on Tuesday at Unnayan Bhavan, in Salt Lake.

It was decided at the meeting that the CMWSA would supply the additional volume of water, the price of which will be decided later, after discussions with the government.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) now gets 70 million gallons of filtered water daily from the Garden Reach waterworks for free.

According to mayoral council member (water supply) Sovan Chatterjee, the Kalighat booster station is designed to supply 10 million gallons of filtered water daily to the residents of Kali Temple Road, Panchanantala Road, Garcha First and Second lanes, Garcha Road, Dover Lane, Deodar Street, the Rashbehari connector (from Siemens to Kasba Gol Park), Panditiya Road, Lake Road, Sardar Shankar Road, Rakhaldas Auddy Road and Priyanath Mullick Road.

However, if the booster station is fed with the existing supply from Garden Reach, residents of some parts of south Calcutta, including Bansdroni and Garfa, would have to go without potable water.

So, it was decided that the CMWSA would be asked for an additional supply of 10 million gallons from its Garden Reach plant. Chief engineer S.N. Chatterjee said the CMWSA charges Rs 3 per kilolitre.

Municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya had earlier asserted that the mayor would have to shell out at least Rs 50 crore to the CMWSA from extra revenue the CMC had earned through its waiver-of-interest scheme. Mukherjee, however, refused to pay.

The CMWSA had sent a water supply bill of Rs 386 crore to the CMC, which remains unpaid.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050323/asp/calcutta/story_4524065.asp

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