Rs 116-cr works cleared for clean water supply

Two days after HT reported that the civic body had detected contaminated water in each of the 27 reservoirs across Mumbai in August, water works worth Rs 116 crore were approved on Wednesday to plug supply leakages in the city and prevent contamination.

Two days after HT reported that the civic body had detected contaminated water in each of the 27 reservoirs across Mumbai in August, water works worth Rs 116 crore were approved on Wednesday to plug supply leakages in the city and prevent contamination.

HT Image

The works cleared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), under the Sujal Mumbai Abhiyan, include replacement of old pipelines with new ones and repairing pipelines in the island city and the eastern suburbs.

The civic body has been pumping in funds under the Sujal Mumbai Abhiyan since 2007 to ensure contamination-free water supply in the city. But going by the August findings, where 120 out of 506 samples collected were found to be unfit for consumption, the BMC doesn't seem to have succeeded a great deal in the past four years.

The HT, in its September 11 edition, had reported that the BMC had cleared more than Rs 700 crore under the abhiyan to free the city of contaminated water. A week later, another Rs 200 crore was allocated for the same purpose.

On Wednesday, the Shiv Sena and BJP corporators, who cleared the Rs 116-crore water works, faced resistance from opposition parties, who alleged widespread corruption in the abhiyan.

"There is absolutely no check on whether any works have been undertaken. At many spots, contractors have laid pipelines without connecting them to a water outlet," said Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) corporator Mangesh Sangale.