Darjeeling, June 9: The Congress (Hills) has taken a strong note of the “failure” of the Neora Water Project in Kalimpong and has demanded a CBI inquiry into the project.

The project was billed to be the answer to all water problems faced by the residents of Kalimpong town. But there have hardly been any significant changes, the leaders felt.

The party has decided to write to the high command about the issue and urge Congress chief whip Priya Ranjan Das Munshi to demand an inquiry into the project in Parliament.

The decision was taken at the Congress (Hills) district committee meeting held yesterday.

Dawa Narbula, president of Congress (Hills), alleged that because of the delay the cost of the project had spiralled, touching almost Rs 60 crore. The initial budget was fixed at Rs 16 crore.

The party said the project had failed to solve the drinking water crisis in Kalimpong town and the residents were “left with same problem”.

The project, which was started in 1985, was supposed to have supplied 12 lakh gallons of water daily to Kalimpong, which has a daily water requirement of around 7 lakh gallons.

Even though the project was inaugurated in 1993, only 5 lakh gallons of water is pumped into the Deolo reservoir at present. From here the water is distributed to the entire Kalimpong town area.

Of the 5 lakh gallons accumulating in the reservoir each day, around 2 lakh gallons of water is supplied to the defence cantonments located in the town. The defence ministry had chipped in to meet the project costs and the rest was funded by the state government.

Tara Sundas, a senior CPM leader from Kalimpong, agreed that the project had failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people, adding that the reservoir tanks in Alghara and Lava were never completed.

“In several places, the pipes that supply water from Neora to Kalimpong have been supported by temporary bamboo shafts, which break down if there is heavy rainfall,” said Sundas.

She alleged that the project authorities had not done anything to overcome the problem.

A senior official of Neora Khola Water Supply and Maintenance Division, a wing of the PHE department, told The Telegraph that the project cost had never been as high as alleged by the Congress (Hills).

The defence ministry had provided around Rs 18 crore and the state government gave Rs 15 crore, he said.

The official, however, admitted that the reservoir at Algara and Lava could not be completed “due to various hitches”.

Only 5 lakh gallons of water reaches Kalimpong because water is pilfered along the route, he said.