E-Paper
NHAI seeks to shut Ganga water plant in peak summer for work on Delhi-Meerut Expressway project
The Pratap Vihar Ganga water treatment plant treats up to 50 cusec of water a day and is the main source to several Ghaziabad and Noida areas, officials said.
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has asked the UP Jal Nigam to shut the Pratap Vihar Ganga water treatment plant for 15 days due to construction work on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway project.
The plant treats up to 50 cusec of water a day and is the main source to several Ghaziabad and Noida areas, officials said.
The district magistrate has asked officials of both agencies to work out a plan on how to implement the shutdown during peak summer season and Ramzan with minimal inconvenience to consumers.
The shutdown requested was conveyed to the district authority in a letter on Tuesday.
“We have asked for a 15-day shutdown of the plant as pipelines need to be shifted and connections need to be done. While we have sought 15 days of shutdown, but we expect the work will hardly take eight to nine days. The work will be done at the Vijay Nagar stretch,” said RP Singh, project director (NHAI).
While acknowledging that there will be supply disruptions, NHAI officials said that the work was required to complete the DME stretch under phase 2 of the project.
“The municipal corporation has reservations about shutting down the plant as the pipelines supply water to different areas. The NHAI has sought 15 days from us. The 50 cusec plant will remain shut and hamper supplies to Noida and Ghaziabad areas like Vasundhara, Vaishali and parts of Indirapuram as well,” said Shubhendra Chaudhary, project manager (UP Jal Nigam – Pratap Vihar plant).
He said that the second plant supplying 100 cusec Ganga water, 80 cusec to Noida and 20 cusec to Ghaziabad, will remain operational during the shutdown period.
“I have asked the officials to draw a plan as how and when the shutdown can be implemented. There is resistance from public for the shutdown and the corporation has given once in writing that they cannot divert resources during the peak summer season and also during the ongoing Ramzan period. There is no clearance as of now. The plan has been sought,” said Ritu Maheshwari, district magistrate.
“There are issues as it is a peak summer season and also the festival days. If we give a go ahead for the shutdown we will have to divert our resources to different areas and this will hamper supplies in other areas. The officials are working on a plan before we can give a go ahead for shutdown of the Ganga water plant,” said Dinesh Chandra, municipal commissioner.
According to corporation figures, the agency has presence of about 63 over head tanks, nearly 7600 handpumps and about 463 deep and mini tubewells for supplying water. According to the water supply data stated by IIT Roorkee in their ‘Environment management plan’ for Ghaziabad, the agency in 2017 had a demand for supply of 317.14 MLD of water and only 210 MLD was available for supplies.
