A week-long crusade against illegal pipe water connection under the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) seems to have brought some relief for the denizens here.
Keeping the upcoming summer in mind, the district administration with the help of police reportedly ruptured nearly 30 illegal and unauthorised water connections from Duduma Colony to First Gate in the Aska Road region of the city during Thursday and Friday, sources said. Slum Development Officer of the BMC Sangram Panda accompanied by the police force and PHED officials identified and unplugged the illegal connections. Panda said a drive has been launched against such erring denizens and law breakers to check the illegal water supply since last week. Nearly 80 illegal water connections have been identified. The disconnections were being made near Ambapua, on the outskirts of the town, by a squad, comprising engineers of PHED, Tehsildars and police. Several illegal water connections from the rising pipe which supplies water from the main source in the area have been successfully detected and unplugged, said PHEO, Brahmapur PK Mahapatra.
According to PHED sources, the water requirement of the city is around 54 MlD per day. While Dakshinpur Reservoir supplies around 16 MlD, Rushikullya joint water supplies 30 MlD and the deep bore wells functioning in different locations of the city provide only 5 MlD-all three sources together contribute a total of 51 MlDs as against the actual requirement of 54 MlD. Despite sufficient supply, most of the areas of the city are reeling under water crisis throughout the year, and more particularly in hot summer. These illegal and unauthorized pipe water connections, specifically from the rising lines, substantially lead to the scarcity, sources said.
According to information available, there are nearly 27,000 illegal water connections operating in the city for years. The BMC authorities, the PHED and the district administration undertook the exercise following a high power review meeting held on Tuesday chaired by Higher Education Minister Dr Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi.