Jamshedpur : Residents under the aegis of Ghaghidih Vikash Samiti and Bagbera Vikas Samiti have said that they would resort to an agitation jeopardizing water supply to railway areas and residential areas of commercial hub of Jugsalai in protest against delay in execution of a Rs 272 crore Bagbera-Govindpur piped water project.
The state funded Bagbera housing colony water project which was launched in July 2013 at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore and executed by the state drinking water and sanitation department, Jamshedpur division for nearly 800 houses with water from Sitarampur Dam (Adityapur) has water filtered from a filter plant at Adityapur and supplied through water tower at Bagbera Housing Colony Road Number 1 with a storage capacity of 40,000 gallon.
The then chief minister Arjun Munda had laid the foundation stone of the project on April 7, 2012.The Baghbera rural drinking water project sanctioned by the drinking water and sanitation department of the state government is yet to commence despite being in paper since 2006.
The project would benefit a populace of over 3 lakhs residing in 113 villages in 21 panchayats of Bagbera, Harharguttu, Ghaghidih, Kitadih and Parsudih. It envisages onstruction of a water treatment plant near Ghaghidih central jail and three water tanks.”We were being forced to get contaminated water which usually stinks.
We have made several complaints, but the problem is not being solved. For the prevention of diseases, we drink filtered water now, but not everyone can afford a filter. We demand the authorities to find the fault in the water supply line”, said Jatinder Singh, a resident.
According to the residents, the water is yellow and brown in colour at times. They have also demanded the health department to collect samples for water testing.Complaint from Bagbaga Vikas Samity official Subodh Jha with the drinking water and sanitation department, Jamshedpur division led to the inspection of junior engineer Uday Sharma.
�I inspected the supply system and found that dust had accumulated in the pipeline due to delay in clearance of the supply line. As per norm, at least once in a month water is allowed to flow downstream in full force to wash away dirt in supply.
However, in this case, it had not been washed ever since the project inauguration in July leading to accumulation of dirt and breeding of insects,� explained the junior engineer of the Jamshedpur division. Jha said that the residents of the area had been suffering from diarrhoea and other water borne diseases after drinking water from tube wells due to absence of piped drinking water.
