MJP clears air on fixing water meters in city

Aurangabad:

The Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) and the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) officials today underlined that the fixing of water meters will be done after the completion of the new water supply scheme.

“ The proposal of fixing water meters is there in the project, but presently the works are underway in different parts of the city. The laying of internal distribution water pipelines is underway, while the shifting of water connections from the old pipelines to new ones is also underway simultaneously. However, the water meters will not be fixed on these connections right now. It will be done only after completion of the new water supply scheme valuing Rs 2740 crore,” said MJP and AMC officials.

Earlier, the principal cost of the new water supply scheme was Rs 1680 crore and it has already been sanctioned for the city. Later on, the new works were included and the project cost escalated to Rs 2740 crore. The new water scheme (with its revised cost) has been included in the union Government’s Amrut 2.0 Mission. The proposal states supplying water 24x7 and fixing water meters to the connections.

As per the instructions of AMC, the work of laying new internal distribution pipelines is underway in some parts of the city. In the meantime, the old water connections are also being shifted to the new pipeline immediately.

When the attention of the officers was drawn towards the opposition in the city to the laying of new pipelines and shifting of old connections on new pipelines fearing that the water meters will be fixed on their connections on the spot, the MJP and AMC officials said, “Under the new water supply scheme, the proposal is approved to fix the water meters. But presently we will not be taking any action in this regard. The water meters will be fixed after the completion of the project. There are 3 lakh registered water connections in the city (including commercial) and water meters will be installed on all of them. The cost of each meter will be varying between Rs 1000 and Rs 1200.”