Centre's nod for Shimla water project

The Centre has given its nod to Madhya Pradesh government's Narmada water supply (augmentation) project for Bhopal. The state government will start work on the Rs 300-crore project within 15 days.

The central government has agreed to grant Rs 100 crore, while the state government would contribute an equal amount.

The remaining Rs 100 crore will be a loan, Transportation and Bhopal Gas Relief Minister Umashankar Gupta told Business Standard.

"The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) will disburse a loan of Rs 100 for the project at the rate of 6""6.5 per cent. We will start work on the project through our public health engineering department within 15 days. The Shahganj village (Sehore district) will be the originating point for the Narmada water supply (augmentation) scheme," he said.

According to Gupta, the previous government had watered down the project on a number of occasions and the "Bhopal Municipal Council (BMC) did not submit the project report to the Centre for months".

Narmada, which originates from Amarkantak in the Shahdol district, is the main source of water for a number of towns in Madhya Pradesh. Bhopal, which is known as the city of lakes, has only two main sources of water supply""the upper lake spread over 31square km and the Kolar river dam.

The city has been facing an acute water shortage for the past several years. The BMC claims to supply nearly 170 litres of water per person every day.

According to the BMC, Kolar dam water supply stands at 28 million gallons and upper lake water supply stands at 23 million gallons per day, while the remaining 5 million gallons is supplied through various tube-wells.

The project report for the Narmada Augmentation Scheme was prepared by the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation (NHDC)--a subsidiary of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and the Madhya Pradesh government""a few years ago.

The company was ready to complete the project in a few months, but the state government has decided to go ahead with the project through the public health engineering department. The project is expected to take care of Bhopal's water needs for "at least 20 years".

Political parties have made "Narmada water" an issue on a number of occasions and it is again turning out to be a concern for both the Congress and the ruling BJP.

"We will go ahead with the project even if we do not win the mandate in the civic body elections," Gupta said, adding, "I am confident it will not happen. Three years from now, Bhopal will get water from the Narmada."

Meanwhile, the state government has reduced the water cess from Rs 150 per month to the old rate of Rs 60 per month. The BMC, during the Congress regime, had increased the water cess to Rs 150.

Gupta said the state government would invite open tenders from private companies to set up units to produce manure from waste.

"We have 500 tonnes of municipal waste every day, and this will be converted into manure since power generation units (which use municipal waste as fuel) have generally failed across the country. After the civic body elections, we will invite tenders for the purpose," Gupta said. The state government has its own waste disposal plant with a one-tonne capacity.