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The shortage resulted from multiple leaks in pipelines carrying
water to the industrial area. |
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| Texturising units have had to suspend production for hours together to grapple with the situation. Fears are being expressed about Indo Rama Synthetics (IRSL), the biggest investor in the industrial complex so far, completing its expansion work as per schedule for want of water. |
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| The present water requirement in the area is 15 million litre per day (MLD) while the supply is only 60% of the requirement, which has thrown several units' operations out of gear, industrialists said. |
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| Due to the water crisis a majority of units were finding it difficult to meet orders in time. "If this situation continues for a few more days we will face the threat of losing our regular customers," Puneet Mahajan, secretary of Butibori Manufacturers Association (BMA), said. |
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So acute is the problem that industrialists are having to purchase 20 to 50 litre water cans for meeting drinking water requirements. "This is a small additional cost that we are having to bear. With temperatures
touching a sizzling 45 degrees celsius workers too have been advised to
bring their own water bottles," Mahajan said. |
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| Textile units require continuous water supply for running air washers/air-coolers. In summer, machines have to be kept at temperatures between 23 and 27 degrees celsius. If the temperature is high, vital components of the machines get damaged affecting production. "If there is disruption of water supply, we have to shut down production for the entire day," Suresh Suri, MD of Suritex, said. |
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| The Rs 1000 crore expansion project as well as the 30 MW captive power plant construction will be delayed if the problem remains unresolved.Butibori MIDC area gets water supply from Wadgaon dam through a 18 km fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) pipeline which has a diameter of two feet. |
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| Water is collected at Water Treatment Plant (WTP) at Borkhedi. After treatment, water is supplied to three elevated storage reservoirs (ESRs) in the Butibori MIDC area from where is goes to 150 units. |
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| Several leakages have developed in the FRP pipeline. Whenever there is a load-shedding this pipeline suffers damages due to the "water hammering effect", Hemant Ambaselkar, senior Vice-President of BMA,said. |
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The association has demanded that MIDC replace the existing pipeline with a mild steel (MS) pipeline to avoid leakages. Earlier, there was a standby pipeline of 25 kms having a diameter of one feet. However, this standby pipeline was later shifted by MIDC to Aurangabad.
Ambaselkar said a new 'Express Feeder' was recently installed by MIDC with an investment of over Rs 25 lakh to avoid load-shedding. The problem though remains unsolved and also impacts water supply to industrial units, Ambaselkar added. |
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