Gambhir link: Parched Pithampur industry’s good luck
Industry in Pithampur, which faces acute water crisis every summer, will be a lucky beneficiary of the state government’s new plan to link Narmada with River Gambhir.
Industry in Pithampur, which faces acute water crisis every summer, will be a lucky beneficiary of the state government’s new plan to link Narmada with River Gambhir.
The government’s nodal agency now plans to draw water from a five kilometre distance, as Gambhir flows near Pithampur, instead of laying a 20 km pipeline to source water from Narmada. The new plan will cut down the project cost, officials said.
“The project to link Narmada with Gambhir has added a new dimension to the Narmada water supply project for Pithampur. Now, we will bring the water from a location near Rau (where Gambhir flows) and so a fresh detailed project report (DPR) will be prepared,” Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam (AKVN) Indore managing director Kumar Puroshottam said.
“The water problem of Pithampur industrial area will be over by 2018,” he said.
The state government has already approved the Narmada-Malwa-Gambhir link project with an estimated cost of `2,143 crore.
The government has formed a special purpose vehicle, Pithampur Jal Prabhandhan Company Ltd (PJPCL), for improvement of water supply system for the industrial area. The Narmada water supply project, with a capacity of 90 MLD (million litres a day) will take care of the present and future demand of Pithampur and surrounding industrial clusters. The project will involve developing the infrastructure for the water supply system for transport and distribution of water as per the demand of the industrial area.
The Narmada water supply project, which is part of the early bird projects under Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), has been delayed by two years.
In September 2013, the DMIC Trust had cleared the Pithampur water supply project to lay the pipeline from the Narmada-Kshipra link.
An earlier deadline of completing the first phase of the project by March 31, 2016, has now been pushed back.
This year, water crisis has hit the Pithampur industrial area early. The nodal agency has stopped piped water supply to Sector 3 of Pithampur industrial area, which is home to more than 350 units, due to fall in the water level of reservoir.
