Eye on votes, VK Singh promises drinking water supply in Khoda in 2 months

The water supply project is estimated to cost about ₹253 crore and involves Ganga water supply to Khoda along with the supply infrastructure

A detailed project report (DPR) to supply of 50 million litres daily (MLD) of drinking water to about 45,000 households in Ghaziabad’s Khoda has been sent to Uttar Pradesh government for a final approval after which the project is expected to be implemented in the next two months, Ghaziabad member of Parliament general VK Singh (retired) said on Friday.

Khoda in Ghaziabad has nearly 45,000 households. (Hindustan Times)

The Khoda locality is a nagar palika (municipal council) and one of nine local bodies in Ghaziabad district. It is home to people belonging to middle and lower class sections of society and its inhabitants mostly work as domestic helps and workers in factories and private offices in Noida, Ghaziabad and Delhi.

The water supply project is estimated to cost about ₹253 crore and involves Ganga water supply to Khoda along with the supply infrastructure.

“The DPR for the project has been prepared and it has now been sent to the state government. We expect that further proceedings may happen in the next two months to bring in drinking water to Khoda. The project has also been approved and sanctioned under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT 2.0) scheme. The project has been sanctioned and the release of funds is awaited,” Singh said.

“The DPR involves laying of water pipeline in Khoda and the construction of underground water tanks instead of overhead ones. Similarly, a project to sewage lines in Khoda has also been proposed and a survey is on at present to assess the requirement,” Singh said.

According to municipal estimates, Khoda has a daily requirement of about 10 cusecs of water. However, the municipal council executive officer Shalini Gupta did not respond to calls seeking a comment on the matter.

The promise to deliver the water supply project in two months has come just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Earlier in April 2023, ahead of the local body elections, VK Singh had enlisted 70 water tankers to supply drinking water to Khoda.

The Khoda Nagar Palika is a huge voter base of the Sahibabad assembly seat in Ghaziabad. During the local body election in May, Khoda had 172,256 registered voters and former chairperson Reena Bhati from the Bharatiya Janata Party lost to her nearest rival Mohini Sharma.

Sharma’s husband, former MLA Amarpal Sharma who won the Sahibabad seat on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket in 2012, had promised a major water supply project of about ₹300 crore during the then BSP regime.

The residents said they have been given many such promises every time an election approaches. However, nothing has come of them and they still rely on submersible pumps or water from private tankers to meet their daily needs.

“The residents are now fed up with repeated promises, which are generally made around the time of elections. This time the public will consider that promises for drinking water have not materialised till date. On our part, we have met officials and suggested that two major overhead tanks in the vicinity of Khoda be used for water supply. But nothing has happened on that front either,” said Deepak Joshi from Khoda residents’ association.