Bhopal: PHED, Jal Nigam face-to-face on erratic water supply

BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) and Jal Nigam have come face-to- face over erratic water supply in Madhya Pradesh.

The PHED has attributed tripping or low electricity voltage to be one of the major causes behind disruption in water supply, which Jal Nigam has denied. According to Jal Nigam, tripping happens four to five days in a month but if water supply remains disrupted throughout the month, then, it shows that bore wells have dried up.

Low voltage or tripping problem was raised in meeting convened by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan with officials of PHED, Jal Nigam and others over water crisis in the state at CM House at 6.30 am on Monday.

Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Malay Shrivastava said, ìElectric motors are operate regularly but tripping for even one minute costs dear because it takes hours for electric motors to gain same momentum to supply water to overhead tanks. So, tripping is one of major issued behind water supply disruption in remote areas.î AK Jain, Superintending Engineer, Jal Nigam (Madhya Pradesh), said, ìLow voltage is not the cause as it happens four to five times in a month.î

According to MGNERA officials, 84 out of 313 blocks face acute water shortage in Madhya Pradesh. Understanding the seriousness of situation, MGNREGA in partnership with MoRD-GIZ-supported bilateral project WASCA (Water Security and Climate Adaptation in Rural India) has developed a simple mechanism to develop GIS-based Groundwater Intervention Management Plan (GWIMP) for the 84 blocks.

The CM asked officials to rectify the problems at the earliest. The CM asked officials to travel to villages, study the issues of drinking water availability properly and to find solutions, including installation of hand pumps, according to PTI.