Minister orders MJP to apply GPS technology on city's water distribution system

Aurangabad, June 17:

The state's water supply minister Gulabrao Patil today has ordered the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) engineers and officials to apply GPS technology to save time and inconvenience to the citizens while undertaking the repair and maintenance of the water distribution pipelines in the city.

It may be noted that the state government has made a provision of Rs 1680 crore for the new water supply scheme under the Maharashtra Suwarna Jayanti Nagarothan Mahaabhiyan. The MJP has been appointed as a nodal agency to implement the project. Hence, main pipelines of length 44 km will be laid above the surface from Jayakwadi Dam to Nakshatrawadi, while small size distribution pipelines of length 2,000 km will be laid in the city limit. The GPS will help to know the underground network of water pipelines in different corners of the city. The review meeting to know the status of the project was held in Mantralaya today.

According to highly placed sources in MJP, " The discussion on controlling the water distribution system through the application of GPS technology was discussed at length. Presently, the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation does not have a total mapping chart of the existing underground pipeline network in the city. This is the reason why the water pipelines are getting damaged frequently while digging of roads for the construction of roads, side drains, laying of drainage pipelines, internet cables, etc. The damage affects or paralysed the water supply of the city. Hence after GPS technology, it would be easier to locate the damaged water pipeline as well as reduce the ratio of the incidents of pipeline damages. The GPS will be helpful for more than a decade in the future."

Speed up the waterworks

The MJP through the tender process had shortlisted GVPR Company to execute the project. The contractor had started the works to construct nine ESRs, two MBRs, and one water treatment plant at Nakshatrawadi. The work of laying a 44 km pipeline from the Jayakwadi Dam to the Nakshatrawadi will be starting soon. Its survey has been completed. The work of laying 2,000 km pipelines in the city limit will be undertaken soon. Hence, the survey of the 1500 km pipeline has been completed, informed the MJP officials to the minister in the meeting. In response to this, Gulabrao Patil told MJP to speed up the waterworks on priority.