The Natural Disaster Management Committee expressed its concern over the speedy decline in the water level of river Rushikulya at its meeting held at the Ganjam Collectorate at Chhatrapur on Wednesday.
Such a decrease in the water level would seriously affect water supply particularly to the urban areas like Brahmapur, Gopalpur, Chhatrapur, Army College and Bhanja Bihar in the coming days, sources said. If no water from the reservoir is released to the Rushikulya, water supply from the collector well of Badamadhapur would hit normal life in the summer, the sources added.
According to reports, the State PHD (Engineering) has stressed the need of releasing water from the reservoir to the Rushikulya at least twice during the current summer as the river has dried up. However, the Irrigation Department reportedly denied such water scarcity, sources said.
At the Natural Disaster Management Committee meeting, there was a heated argument between the officials of the PHD and the Irrigation Department over the possible scarcity of water supply to the towns in the coming days.
Intervening in the discussion, Ganjam district Collector Premchandra Choudhury stressed the need of an effective coordination between the PHD and Irrigation Department and cautioned the officers of both the wings to ensure that water supply is not affected during the summer. He directed the concerned officials for supply of water through tankers and give more attention particularly to the areas in which the water scarcity created law and order problems during the last summer.
Choudhury also asked the officials to submit an action plan within two days highlighting the mechanisms to be adopted to tackle the water crisis, ensure uninterrupted power supply and check possible sunstroke incidents, sources said.
The PHD officials who were present at the meeting reportedly drew the attention of the Chairman of the committee and the Collector to a defunct electric feeder which causes serious impediments for supply of water from the collector well of Badamadhapur. Choudhury said that after discussions with the BMC corporators, the PHD would soon finalise water supply through tankers to the people of Brahmapur.
Among other issues, repair of all defunct tube-wells, action against the erring bus owners for taking passengers on the roofs of buses, effective monitoring of sunstroke units and special cabins in the local hospitals to treat sunstroke patients, supply of ORS and drinking water to all schools and proper functioning of all drinking water distribution centres (Jal Chhatras) were discussed.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former Assembly Deputy Speaker Rama Chandra Panda strongly demanded that the district administration and the BMC ensure supply of adequate drinking water to Brahmapur and NAC towns like Gopalpur, Chhatrapur, Chikiti, Mohana, Digapahandi and Paralakhemundi during the ongoing heat wave.
Panda also demanded that the PHD and the BMC ensure deployment of at least 40 water tankers, ie, one for each of the 40 BMC words to tackle water scarcity. He further demanded immediate repair of the defunct electric feeders to ensure uninterrupted water supply from the Badamadhpur collector well.