Narmada water project for Pithampur fails to take off

At a time when the Madhya Pradesh government is wooing Japanese and Korean investors to Pithampur, the shortage of water in the industrial area remains a matter of concern.

At a time when the Madhya Pradesh government is wooing Japanese and Korean investors to Pithampur, the shortage of water in the industrial area remains a matter of concern.

A water pipeline linking Narmada with Kshipra river in Madhya Pradesh. (Picture for representation)

Nine months after the state government failed to finalise a consultant for setting up infrastructure for the Narmada-Kshipra project for supplying water to Pithampur industrial area, the industry department is yet to come up with revised bids for the same.

Industry bodies have expressed concern over the delay as acute water shortage every summer hits the production.

The state government had in February this year initiated the process of building infrastructure for the project to supply water to Pithampur industrial area.

“No company could meet the criteria during an earlier round of tendering process, so a fresh round will take place,” an official of the Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam Indore said.

In June and July, industries in Pithampur were depending on water tankers to meet their daily requirement as the piped water supply had been stopped.

A difference of opinion between Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Development Corporation officials in New Delhi and state industry department officials has delayed the project, sources said.

The industry is concerned over the prolonged delay. “The Narmada water supply project should be completed at the earliest,” Pithampur Audyogik Sangathan president Gautam Kothari said.

The Pithampur industrial area has a demand of 18-20 MLD (million litres a day) of water while the project will initially supply 30 MLD and will be scaled up to 60 MLD and then 90 MLD once the project becomes fully operational.

In September 2013, the DMIC Trust cleared the Pithampur water supply project to lay pipeline from Narmada-Kshipra link. An earlier deadline of completing the first phase of the project by March 31, 2016, has now been pushed back.

As reported earlier in HT, several units, especially pharmaceutical units, had slashed production this summer due to water shortage.