An underground reservoir in the Housing Board Colony, Dumduma, in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 28: Residents of the Housing Board Colony, Dumduma, have shown little interest in the water supply project that came up in the area eight years ago.

Of the 2,063 households in the first two phases of the colony, only 450 have opted for piped water from the project till date.

The lack of interest in the project is because it came into existence nearly 20 years after the colony was set up in 1985. By that time, left with no other option, most of the residents had sunk their own borewells.

Local councillor of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Kartik Sundaray said: “Construction of the colony started in 1981, but the water supply took more than two decades to materialise. The water supply work started in 2000 after the state government sanctioned Rs 20 crore, but the pipeline could not progress as trenching work was to be done under the NH-5 somewhere between Khandagiri and Dumduma.”

He said the delay in the pipeline work forced residents of the housing colony to arrange for their own water sources by digging borewells. “When officials of the housing board requested them to take connections, the residents did not show any interest. In Phases II and III of the colony, where there are 2,063 houses, only 450 have applied for the water connection. The colony has a total of 3,313 houses.”

Durlabh Kumar Routray, a resident of Raghunath Nagar in Dumduma, said most residents had already invested Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 on each borewell to get water. They had to sink the wells, as the Odisha State Housing Board had provided them with a limited number of tube wells. After investing so much, they are no longer interested in the board’s pipe water supply.”

Pradip Kumar Patra, a resident of Phase III in the housing board colony, said that while the housing board was charging Rs 290 per household to supply water in Dumduma, the Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO), another wing of the housing and urban development department, was charging only Rs 108 per month in other parts of the city.

But the housing board demurs. “The housing board has fixed Rs 3,060 as the application fee for a new water connection. The cost for pipe needed to connect the house with the mainline has to be borne by the applicant. It costs Rs 1,250 to Rs 1,500, which is very low in comparison with the PHEO price. The PHEO charges Rs 8,000 for a new connection in Bhubaneswar,” said an official of the housing board.

After connecting the pipelines to the homes and completion of the project, the housing board will transfer it to PHEO for maintenance and running. At present, PHEO supplies water to the housing board project from its water works at Ghatikia.

Executive engineer (public health) of the housing board Rabinarayan Behera told The Telegraph: “We are hoping that about 1,000 people will subscribe to our water supply project soon. We have undertaken an awareness drive explain the importance of the pipe water supply, as it is treated and far better than groundwater.”

Sundaray added: “We are also telling people that it is better to use pipe water than borewell water. Dependence on borewells threatens the groundwater level.”

Colony figures

Work on Dumduma Housing Board Colony started in 1981

Houses handed over to allottees in 1985

In all, 3313 houses built in five phases

Pipeline stats

Water project work started in 2000

Trenching for pipeline under NH-5 delayed for several years

Pipeline connected to underground reservoirs at Dumduma in 2012

Only two phases (II and III) in the colony get water supply from Ghatikia waterworks

There are 2063 houses in phases I & II, but only 450 residents have applied for water connection since 2012

Reasons for low consumer count

Delay in execution of water project

Most residents have built bore wells for Rs 70000 to Rs 80000

Monthly bill for a connection under Public Health Engineering Organisation is Rs 108 in city, while housing board charges Rs 290