HC orders Centre to approve new pump house by May 31

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, April 19:

The Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justice Ravindra V Ghughe and Justice S G Dighe has directed the Department of Forest (DoF) to forward the new pump house proposal to the Central Government, by April 30, so that the city could get adequate quantity of water in taps, soon. The High Court has also ordered the Centre to okay the pump house proposal by May 31. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) has been ordered to constitute a committee to record the progress of pump house works on a daily basis and submit the progress report to the court. The hearing on the petition has been recommended to be held after every two weeks. The next hearing on the petition will be held on June 7.

The bench also hoped that all the concerned departments will ensure that the new water supply project gets completed within its stipulated period.

No water despite paying taxes

The petition has been filed by residents of Cidco N-3 sector Amit Mukhedkar, Shridhar Shidore and others. They stated that despite paying of taxes they deprive of water supply. Hence they urged the High Court to direct the AMC to provide water supply to them. However, the bench, observed that the water supply is not restricted to the petitioners, instead it is the issue of concern for the whole city. Hence the High Court directed the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to submit an explanation upon it, on Monday morning.

City situated above height of 151 metres

On behalf of AMC, Adv Sambhaji Tope, has brought into notice of the court that the dams which are supplying water to Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur and Nasik cities are situated above the respective city level. Instead, Aurangabad City, is situated above 151 metres of Jayakwadi Dam. This is the reason why AMC is unable to do water supply through gravitational force. The water supply is lifted through 10 pump stations that are operated through power supply and supplied to the city. The AMC pays energy bills of Rs 50 crore every year.

21 year old water pipelines

The water supply is being made to the city through the main pipelines which were laid in 2001. There was a provision of drawing 150 MLD water through them. The population of city increased and demand of water reached to 185 MLD in 2011. Presently, the population of the city is 16 lakh and the demand of water is 216 MLD. Due to leakages in water supply, water thefts, disruption of water supply due to power cuts, shortage of storage reservoirs and deteriorating conditions of main water pipelines, the city is receiving 120 MLD only.

Earlier, the proposal to supply 392 MLD water to the city by 2024 through parallel pipeline project was floated under Nagarothan Yojana, but due to technical reason, the project got shelved.

Now the state government has approved the new water supply scheme of Rs 1680 crore under Maharashtra Suvarna Jayanti Nagarothan Mahabhiyan Yojana. The project include laying of pipeline of 1911 km length in the city limit. The government has given administrative approval to the project on September 13, 2019. As per the orders, the project has to be completed in 36 months from the date of issuing work order. The work order has been issued in February 2021.

Need of permission for pump house

The MJP’s pleader Adv Vinod Patil brought into notice of the High Court that proposed erection of new pump houses are close to the bird sanctuary. As a result, there is a need of obtaining permission from the DoF, the Central Government and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Adv Amit Mukhedkar represented the petitioners, assistant solicitor general Ajay Talhar pleaded on behalf of the Central Government, Adv Deepak Manorkar on behalf of MSRDC and Adv Sangle voiced on behalf of the state government.