BHOPAL: Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) will install three new floating fountains in the Upper Lake at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. The fountains will be installed to raise the oxygen level in the waters of the lake.
Out of the 46 floating fountains installed earlier, 40 are now not functional as the electricity bills have not been paid. These fountains were installed at a cost of Rs 7 lakh each at that time.
The civic body hopes to run the new floating fountains on solar energy. But solar-related projects at the Upper Lake have failed miserably. The Smart City had installed solar panels at VIP Road to supply electricity, but the project never took off the ground.
BMC floated the tender for installation of the floating fountains in the lake recently and invited bids. The officials hope that the solar panel-mounted fountains will save electricity and will also raise the oxygen level.
Earlier failure: The civic body had failed to maintain the fountains installed earlier in all the lakes of Bhopal. Most of the fountains are not even traceable under the water. The fountains were installed in the Upper Lake, Lower Lake, Motia Lake, Landia Lake, Munshi Hussain Khan ka Talaab, Khatlapura, Shaheed Nagar and other areas.
The only visible fountains are in Lower Lake, Upper Lake and Landia Lake. The other fountains are either not working or are submerged in the water.
Santosh Gupta, city engineer, lake conservation cell of BMC, said the tender had been floated and expressed the confidence that they would be able to run the fountains efficiently.
