Ajsu activists stage protest against water shortage outside RMC office. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, April 4: The ambitious pilot project of Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company (Jusco) is all set to solve the water woes of the residents of the state capital.

Jusco, a hundred per cent subsidiary of Tata Steel, will start the project as part of the private-public partnership of the state government. The project promises to improve the existing supply by installing water meters, minimising distribution loss, detecting leakage in supply pipes and find ways to recover both frequency and timing of the supply.

The project would be undertaken in association with Ranchi Municipal Corporation, the agency responsible for the supply through its entity, Ranchi Jal Board.

Talking to The Telegraph, RMC administrator Vinay Kumar Choubey said a final agreement between the civic body and Jusco will take place in near future. However, for the improved services, the consumers need to pay some extra amount, he said. “To start with, we have zeroed in on Gonda area in Kanke where about 1,000 households will be undertaken. The services of Jusco would act as benchmark for us for future implementation either through a private or government agency based on Jusco’s performance,” he said.

Two senior Jusco officials — Tanmay Bit and Debasish Karmakar — today met Choubey and the state government officials to discuss the project.

At present, RMC provides water connection to the city residents and charge monthly rentals against the services. But for a population of more than 10 lakh, the civic body has been able to provide only about 14,000 water connections to households. There have been reports of untimely supply of water from the reservoirs and towers located in different parts of the city.

Jusco’s, manager (water services) Tanmay Bit said: “The idea is to timely and metered supply of water to city residents. The company would undertake a water management study and try to fill the gap of leakage, timing and frequency,” he said. But as far as the maintenance of quality of water through treatment is concerned, the task would be left to drinking water and sanitation department, he added.

Jusco has been providing water services in Jamshedpur, which has been levelled as one of the best in the country. The company is in process of providing services in Haldia and is also slated to spread its wings in neighbouring Bihar. Based on outcome of the pilot project in Gonda, other areas of the city would undertake the project, the officials said.