The first phase of work of the mega drinking water project taken up by the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) to augment water supply across the Siliguri civic area is likely to be over in another three months, mayor Gautam Deb said on Tuesday.
Deb, who held a meeting with officials associated with the project, said: “We expect the work of the project’s first phase to be complete in another three months.”
“Pipelines along 15km of the total 27.5km stretch from the Teesta river to the water treatment plant at Fulbari have been laid. We are waiting for a no-objection certificate from the state forest department for the rest of the work,” Deb said.
Construction of a pond at the treatment plant was in progress, he added.
In Siliguri, the Trinamool-run civic body, the largest urban local body in north Bengal with 47 wards, is implementing the ₹511-crore drinking water project under the Centre’s AMRUT 2.0 scheme.
It has engaged experts from the water resource department of Jadavpur University, Calcutta, to provide technical support to execute the drinking water project. A task force has been formed to liaison with experts, agencies and engineers, and monitor the project.
An SMC source said work was on to identify sites for 15 overhead reservoirs (OHRs) across the civic area. “We are in the process of identifying locations to build the OHRs across the city for drinking water distribution in the wards,” said the source.
Dulal Dutta, member, mayor-in-council (water supply and health department), said the pond at the treatment plant was likely to be ready by November.
“It will have a storage capacity of 1,500 million litres. Once it is ready, we can prevent disruption in water supply in the SMC area,” said Dutta.