Water supply from Kaushalya Dam to Panchkula stopped

Rajinder Nagarkoti

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Tribune News Service

Panchkula, April 30

While Panchkula residents are already facing a water crisis, there is another bad news for them. The water supply from Kaushalya Dam in Pinjore to Panchkula has also stopped.

As the water level has touched the ‘dead-storage’ mark, the Irrigation Department of Haryana is not supplying water to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), which is looking after the distribution of water in Panchkula.

A senior official of HUDA said though supply from Kaushalya Dam had stopped, they had ordered to increase running hours of tubewells, which are the main source of water supply in Panchkula.

The running time of the tubewells, which were running only 12 hours, has been increased to 18 hours daily. The running time of tubewells that were running for 18 hours has been increased to 22 hours daily, the official added.

The official said the water supply in Panchkula is 155 litres per person per day, which was above than the national average of 135 litres per person per day.

Panchkula receives around eight cusecs of water from the dam. The situation is likely to improve only after showers. There are already reports of low water pressure in various parts of the city.

Increasing demand behind scarcity

An increase in the demand for water and the failure to improve the supply are causing the scarcity. As per experts, the demand for water had increased to 5-6 MGD, but the supply has not been increased proportionately.

Power cuts to blame

A senior official of HUDA said the Electricity Department was repairing the power lines, which resulted in long-duration power cuts. The water supply was also affected due to the absence of power supply.

Project fails to serve purpose

Nearly Rs 217 crore was spent on the project, which was supposed to be completed at Rs 51 crore initially. The Irrigation Department had sanctioned the Kaushalya Dam in 2005 but the work on it started only in 2008. Later, it was revealed that the width of the wall of the dam was extended from 12 to 30 metres by the department, increasing the construction cost from Rs 118 crore to Rs 180 crore. HUDA had spent Rs 23 crore on laying a pipeline from the dam to Panchkula. However, the project failed to serve the purpose as the water in the dam remained inadequate.

Inadequate supply

Like last year, HUDA has again written to officials of the Engineering Wing, Chandigarh MC, raising concern over not getting full share of water from Kajauli. While Panchkula is entitled to 6 million gallons per day (MGD), it is only getting 4.5 MGD, leaving a shortage of 1.5 MGD.

Demand and supply

Current demand 70 cusecs

Supply 65 cusecs