Chandigarh takes up Rs 166 crore-projects to upgrade sewerage management, water supply

Under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 (AMRUT 2.0), the Chandigarh Administration has taken up seven projects. Costing Rs 166.39 crore, the projects include two water supply projects worth Rs 43.77 crore and five sewer management projects worth Rs  122.62 crore.

The approved projects cover 10.50 km of new water network and 239.69 km of sewer network (167 km new and replacement of 72.69 km).

Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal said this in Parliament while replying to questions by Manish Tewari, a member of Parliament.

The minister said so far more than 1.76 lakh water tap connections and 2.36 lakh sewer connections have been provided under AMRUT/ AMRUT 2.0 in the urban areas.

In convergence, 20 km of water pipeline network and 30.13 km of sewer network have been laid or replaced.

Tewari has asked whether the government is aware of recent reports regarding supply of contaminated drinking water in certain areas of Chandigarh, leading to several residents falling sick; if so, the details of the areas affected, the number of complaints received and the findings of water quality tests conducted.

The minister said the Chandigarh administration has informed that complaints were received regarding supply of contaminated water in Mauli Jagran, Dariya and Hallo Majra.

However, in the majority of the cases, presence of muddy water was noticed, which was linked to ongoing repair work of the supply lines.

Besides, there have been cases where residents have utilised their water pumps during non-supply hours which are directly connected to the distribution lines, thus generating internal pressure at the pipe joints and resulting in the mixing of mud with the water.

The UT Administration has taken immediate measures and water samples were collected randomly and tested through National

Accreditation Board of Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)  accredited Lab. At least 1,995 water samples were tested during the last three months and the tests of collected samples during the period have been found satisfactory.

Flushing of water supply lines was done to ensure zero contamination in the pipelines and proper chlorination was ensured in the potable water at user end.

The UT Administration has also informed that in Chandigarh, water supply system is old one, which results in leakages in pipes sometimes.

As and when such incidents are noticed, immediate repair works are carried out. Connectivity of all the left-out areas such as

Mauli Jagran and Dariya which are dependent on groundwater with canal water, are part of long term strategy of the UT Administration along with phase-wise replacement of identified old/damaged distribution pipelines with ductile iron (DI) pipelines.

Further, Tewari claimed that people fell ill in rehabilitation colonies, especially Mauli Jagran, because of drinking contaminated water. Unfortunately, the government is being economical with the truth and attempting to cover up a very grave situation.

The reality unfortunately is that in most rehabilitation colonies the drinking water pipes and sewage lines have corroded and as they lie next to each other, the drinking water is being contaminated, he added.

Tewari said there is a very urgent need to carry out an audit of the drinking water and sewage lines in all relief and rehabilitation colonies to ascertain the leakages and fix them to prevent a very serious situation.