Hazaribagh, Oct. 3: An ambitious project that can help check the water crisis in Hazaribagh town has become a bone of contention between arch rivals Congress and BJP.

Both parties are taking credit for a drinking water project at Konar Dam in Vishnugarh.

Congress legislator Saurabh Narayan Singh said he had first approached a consultant for this project in 2007. “Again in 2009, I took up the matter with the secretary of urban development department and finally, the project took shape,” he said.

But BJP workers are not ready to buy the MLA’s claims, saying the project was the brainchild of local BJP MP Yashwant Sinha. According to them, soon after the JMM-led government came to power with BJP’s support, Sinha spoke to then deputy chief minister Raghubar Das to ensure that the water project saw the light of day.

A fresh twist was added by acting chairman of municipal board Manish Jaiswal, who said the proposal was first made by the municipality.

At present, Charwa Dam, located about 7km from here, is the lone reservoir catering to drinking water need of around 3 lakh people.

With the population swelling in the past few years, the demand for water also increased, prompting the authorities to look for an alternative reservoir. The authorities zeroed in on Konar Dam, about 56km away in Vishnugarh, a Maoist stronghold, and work has started to prepare a detailed project report for bringing water from this reservoir.

Singing a completely different tune, CPM district secretary Ganesh Kumar Verma said the Konar project was a complete waste of money. “Instead of bringing water from such a far-off place, the authorities should have looked into the possibility of using water of rivers like Mahane in Katkamsandi and Siwane in Nagwa,” he said.

Local residents remain the worst sufferers in the midst of this tug of war. They said the PHED department was supplying water only once a day as the level in Charwa had gone down drastically.