After eight years, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (Gmada) has finally set a deadline of July 31 for the additional supply of five million gallon daily (MGD) water from phases 5 and 6 of Kajauli waterworks.
The previous deadline of the project was December 2020, but it was delayed due to the pandemic.
Mohali is short of 10 MGD water and the demand shoots up to 12 MGD in summers.
Gmada chief engineer Davinder Singh said, “The construction work of water treatment plant, which is coming up at Mohali’s Singhpur, is in full swing. We have set a deadline of July 31 and on the same day, Mohali residents will get additional five MGD water.”
The construction of the plant has already been delayed owing to the indecision over capacity (whether to build it for five MGD or 20 MGD). Gmada has now decided to go with the second option. The project, which is being developed by a Vadodara-based company, will cost ₹100 crore. Chandigarh, meanwhile, has already started receiving its additional 35 MGD water under phases 5 and 6.
Acute shortage
{{/usCountry}}Acute shortage
{{/usCountry}}For the past several years, Mohali has been reeling under acute water shortage as the gap between demand and supply in the city stretches up to 10 MGD.
MC councillor Kuljeet Singh Bedi, who had filed a case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding shortage of water in Mohali, said, “The project has been delayed due to lackadaisical attitude of the officials concerned. It is unfortunate that the public had to suffer for years due to shortage of water.”
In May 2012, Gmada had started laying pipelines to supply 80 MGD water to Mohali and Chandigarh from Kajauli waterworks at a cost of ₹200 crore, half of which was borne by Chandigarh.
Presently, Mohali gets 10 MGD water from Kajauli waterworks and 10 MGD from 75 tubewells. Kajauli waterworks is located on Bhakra mainline canal near Morinda in Rupnagar district from where water requirement of Chandigarh, Mohali and Chandimandir are met.