A bigger fleet of water tankers will play messiah for residents grappling with water scarcity in Dhanbad.

Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) floated tenders on Tuesday to engage 50 tankers of 2,000 and 3,000-litre capacity to cater to a population of 15 lakh in its 55 wards.

Once the tankers arrive, possibly by April-end, they will ensure water supply across Dhanbad, as well as Katras that is facing acute water crisis.

These new tankers would be pressed into service in addition to the present 18 tankers of 3,000 litre capacity each.

Giving details, chief executive officer of DMC Chavi Ranjan said: "Though water is being supplied to different wards through existing 18 tankers as per demand, we may require at least 50 more tankers. We will ensured smooth supply once the tenders are finalised."

"The 18 existing tankers, 13 more tankers will also arrive soon under an old tender floated some four months ago," added Ranjan.

He also said that three unused DMC tankers would also be repaired and pressed into service to tide over the situation taking its present tanker strength to 34.

"In case of an emergency, we may also take Damodar river water from another civic body, Mineral Area Development Authority (Mada) from its Jamadoba-based water treatment plant. We will need to do minor repairs of valves in the pipeline connecting the Mada and DMC pipeline at Dhansar," said Ranjan.

In addition, a decision to prepare a policy to ration water from the Maithon lake was taken on April 13. The meeting on water crisis was held by Dhanbad deputy commissioner Kripa Nand Jha. Now, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) will decide how much water to supply for domestic, agricultural and industrial use.

The present water level at Maithon lake, which is main source of water for Dhanbad town, is worryingly down at 452 feet, as much as 15 feet lower than last year's 467 feet.

Dhanbad zilla parishad also held a meeting on Saturday on the present water crisis where it was decided to hire tankers.

Each member has been allowed to spend a maximum Rs 1 lakh to supply water in their respective areas.

Zilla parishad member Ashok Singh has already started supplying water through tankers in different areas of Govindpur in Dhanbad, more than 10 days ago in his personal capacity.

Around 2.80 lakh litres of water have already been supplied in different areas including, Bhelatand, Muraidih, Jealgora and Tilatand.