CSMC receives fund of Rs 289 crore from State for new water works

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

If the sources are to be believed the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) has received the aid of Rs 289 crore from the state government to speed up the new water supply scheme works on Friday evening. The civic body will transfer it to Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) soon, said the sources.

Earlier, the alert citizens and others were worried as the state government has made no provision of funds for the new water supply scheme in the budget announced on Thursday. The worry was because the share of CSMC in the new water project is of Rs 822 crore and the state government had assured of bearing the burden of CSMC’s share. The rumours discussing the fate of the water project were being spread in the city through social media since then.

It may be noted that the former state government had sanctioned the new water supply scheme of Rs 1680 crore in 2019. Later on, the cost of the project escalated to Rs 2740 crore after its inclusion in Amrit 2.0 Mission.

The project cost was to be borne by the Central Government (Rs 685.19 crore - 25 per cent), the State Government (Rs 1233.34 crore - 45 per cent) and the CSMC (Rs 822.22 crore - 30 per cent).

The cash-strapped CSMC is unable to pay the share. It may be noted that it has obtained the loan of Rs 250 crore to invest its share in the projects launched under the Smart City Mission. Hence the CSMC requested the state government to bear the burden of its share in the new water project. The demand was accepted by the ruling party members.

Meanwhile, the CSMC and the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) were pushed to worry when the state government did not announce any funds for it on Thursday. The CSMC was worried more as the municipal corporation had also spent Rs 256 crore from its deposits (the parallel pipeline project fund).

The fund was transferred to MJP - the nodal agency of the water scheme - for the new waterworks.