To reduce the gap of supply and demand of water in the union territory of Chandigarh, the UT Administration on Friday paid Rs 98 crores to Punjab Government for laying of an additional water supply pipeline from Kajauli to the city.
With the shortage of water emerging as a major problem in the city due to increasing population, the new pipeline is the need of hour.
The single pipeline will be laid by both Punjab and Chandigarh. While Punjab will lay the pipeline in its area, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation will lay it in the area under its limits.
The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) had recently asked the Chandigarh civic body to pay Rs 98 crore for the project. GMADA would lay the water pipeline till Jhandpur village, situated in the Kharar sub-division of Mohali district. The Chandigarh MC will then have to make own arrangements for pumping and supplying water from Kharar to the city.
Punjab and Haryana Governor-cum-UT Administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki had approved the additional water supply of 40 million gallons per day (MGD) through a new pipeline from Punjab to Chandigarh after receiving a permission letter from the Haryana Government.
Earlier, the UT Administration and the civic body were at loggerheads over who will pay money for laying of the pipeline in Punjab. However, later, it was decided that the civic body will pay Rs 98 crore from its fixed deposits (FDs) to the Punjab Government for laying of the pipeline.
Vijay Dev, Adviser to the UT Administrator while talking to the mediapersons on Friday said, “ To make Chandigarh, a smart city, 24 x 7 water supply is one of the most important elements which we are aiming to achieve very soon with the cooperation of GMADA, Municipal Corporation, Administration and the residents of the city .”
At present, Chandigarh gets 87 million gallon per day against a demand of 116 MGD.