Kalyan and Dombivali, satellite cities of Thane district, may by June get additional 2,000 million cubic (TMC) of water to overcome shortage, the Maharashtra Government indicated in Legislative Council today.
The extra water will be provided by raising the height of Barvi Dam, that provides water to MIDC along with some other small towns.
Sanjay Dutt (Congress), speaking during the calling attention motion, raised the water scarcity problem in Kalyan, Dombivli along with Dombivli MIDC, Ambernath and Badlapur areas.
He said after the completion of Morbe Dam, the overload on Barvi has declined and thus the surplus water can be diverted to areas under the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC).
Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan assured the Council that the Government will soon convene a meeting on the issue.
Concerned over the water scarcity in KDMC areas, Deputy Chairman Vasant Davkhare instructed the Government to hold a meeting of officials concerned on March 31 in his office.
Vijay Shivtare, MoS for Water Resources, said raising the height of Barvi Dam would lead to an increase in the storage capacity of water by 2 TMC. "If all goes well, KDMC will get additional water from June," Shivtare said.
However, Dutt said two villages will get submerged if the dam's height is raised and local residents are opposing the move.
Shivtare assured the House that the affected villagers will be rehabilitated at the place of their choice. The Minister said raising the dam's height will put an end to water scarcity problem in the nearby areas.
