Aurangabad:
The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) administrator Abhijeet Chaudhari today clarified that the civic administration will have no objection to supplying water to the 35 villages on the fringe area of the city, through the new pipeline of 900 mm size to be laid between Jayakwadi and Nakshatrawadi, after completion of new water supply scheme (of valuing Rs 2740 crore).
The Central Government has approved Rs 193 crore fund to replace the old and damaged 700-mm size main pipeline (of AMC) with a 900-mm pipeline. This supplementary proposal has been included by the Central Government in its Amrut 2.0 Mission and it will be launched by Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP). However, the rights over the distribution of water through the pipeline will be reserved with the AMC.
It may be noted that the new water supply scheme aims at meeting the demand for water for the city’s population in 2050. The scheme is expected to be completed in 2024-25. In the meantime, the AMC proposed to replace the damaged 700-mm size pipeline as there were several leakages and a large quantity of water was being wasted through the pipeline. The damaged pipeline will now be replaced by a 900 mm size one. The MJP has published the tender recently and the work will be started in the new year.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced supplying of water to 35 villages (on the fringe area) through the 900-mm pipeline.
When the attention of the civic chief was drawn towards the announcement, he said,“The AMC is already facing a challenge to meet the citizens' demand for water. The supply of 56 MLD of water through the 900-mm pipeline will be made in the city. After completion of the new water supply scheme (of Rs 2740), the AMC will not need the water from the 900-mm pipeline and then the AMC will have no objection if the water of it is supplied to these villages on the fringe area of the city.”
Meanwhile, the AMC sources claimed that the state administration has not also cleared who will be maintaining the 900-mm pipeline every year as crores of rupees are spent on maintaining the pipeline.