Aurangabad, Dec 18:
The work to build a big water tank on the hill at Nakshatrawadi under the new water supply scheme of Rs 1680 crore is facing hindrance due to delay in blasting rock.
It may be noted that the new scheme has gained momentum to quench the thirst of the city. The biggest task of the scheme is to construct a big water tank on the hill. This work has been halted due to hard rock. There is no alternative but to blast the rock. Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran(MJP) sought permission from the district administration for blasting. However, MJP has not received permission from the administration. The work order for the new water supply scheme was released in February 2021. But, the work with various permissions began in July. In the last six months, the officials of MJP has started doing work through GVPR company. The biggest, most difficult and time-consuming major work of the project has begun. Two balanced water tanks are being constructed on the hill of Nakshatrawadi. The height of one of the tanks is 664 meters above sea level, while the height of another tank is 632 meters.
Both the tanks have a storage capacity of 50 lakh litres and 115 lakh litres respectively. The work of the water tank at a height of 664 meters has to be done by breaking the rock of the hill. Efforts were made to break the rock with the help of JCB but it turned out to be impossible as the rock is very hard. Water purification centres are being set up at the foot of Nakshatrawadi hill. There are six water purification plants with a capacity of 65.33 MLD. Currently, digging has been started on a big level. A senior officer from MJP Ajay Singh said that the required levels of purification tanks have to be maintained as any mistake done in the work will have long term effects. He said that Chief Minister performed ‘Bhoomipujan of the scheme on December 12, 2020.
“The work order was issued to the company in February 2021. The land was acquired in April month. The work began in two months with required planning. The pace of the work was enhanced by clearing many technical issues. Much work was done during the last six months,” he added.