MJP suggests AMC increase intake of water by 20 pc through 'bypass method'

Aurangabad, Feb 17:

The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) administrator, A K Pandey, today underlined that Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) experts would be submitting the implementation plan of new water supply scheme to the AMC. The project will be completed in three years. Till then, the efforts are underway to provide relief to the citizens by increasing the intake quantity of water supply by 20 per cent.

Pandey reviewed the status of water supply scheme from the MJP's superintending engineer Ajay Singh today. The AMC's city engineer S D Panzade and the in-charge executive engineer Kiran Dhande were also present in the meeting. Under the scheme, 53 elevated storage reservoirs (ESRs) will be constructed. Of which, 25 will be built on priority. The AMC has formed an independent committee for technical inspection of the sites required to construct ESRs. The committee comprises AMC's city engineer, executive engineer and ward engineer. Presently, the AMC is distributing 60 per cent of water directly through pipeline rather than the ESRs. As a result, the citizens are receiving water with low pressure.

The condition of pipelines laid by AMC between Jayakwadi and Nakshatrawadi is deteriorating at some spots. To avoid wastage of water through them, the AMC could make the water supply through 'bypass method' by laying pipeline parallel to the old ones. In this process, the intake capacity of water supply would increase by 20 per cent, stated the proposal submitted by MJP's Ajay Singh to AMC. The MJP will submit the estimate of the expense required for the bypass method, soon.

Operation of scheme through solar energy

The AMC is presently paying electricity bills around Rs 50-60 crore annually against the power consumed to operate the water supply scheme. After the execution of the new scheme, the power bills would be Rs 120-125 crore. Hence, today's meeting decided to reduce the cost of bills by shifting the operations to renewable energy. The custodian of the scheme will acquire 10 hectares of land around the hill of Nakshatrawadi from the Department of Forest and set up Solar Power Plant for the new water supply scheme, it is learnt.