Coordination between Neora and PHE is a must for proper water supply, says Pariyar

MUKESH SHARMA KALIMPONG, May 10: Keeping in mind the everyday water crisis the Kalimpong Municipality President, LB Pariyar today held a meeting with the Engineer Roy of Neora Water Scheme, and PHE Engineer, Anil Chettri. The members of the Kalimpong Sangrakshan Samiti namely Uday Kumar Rai, PR Pradhan and Sonam Bhutia also met with Pariyar today. Informing about the meeting the Municipality President said that he had called the Engineers of Neora and PHE in order to find in which places there are water shortage and who are not distributing the water properly. According to PHE, the water is not being distributed since there is less amount of water in the distribution tanks, and according to Neora they are distributing well enough. 

Now the question arises where the water went in between, enquired Pariyar. He added that he has clearly directed them to find out about this. Further, the Municipality President mentioned that he also directed Neora to deliver some justice to the civilians regarding water supply. The public should however get water and for this if they need to cut off water supply meant for the Army or by any other means, asserted Pariyar. Likewise, he notified that he had called on PHE in order to know the condition of the water resource at Thukchuk Khola. The Neora and the PHE had to be brought together for they lacked coordination between them, he underlined. If only these two Departments coordinate with each other and inform the Municipality 24 hours before any water crisis, then the Municipality can do the needful by distributing water through tanks. 

The Municipality does not keep any funds for the water issue, for if any problem occurs then we inform the District Magistrate (DM), who further informs to Kolkata and according to that the funds are allocated from the capital. Last year, Rs 20 lakhs was allocated out of which, Rs 10 lakhs was meant for the management of water sources. The remaining funds which were not used are now being tried to utilize. If the water shortage prolongs then the Municipality will be distributing water daily, he added. Out of 10 lakhs of funds, around 1.5 lakhs is left which will be used for water distribution. The ultimate option is to reopen the high drains which used to be connected with the Municipality pipelines earlier. A budget is being prepared under which the main water pipelines, garbage dumping zone and public toilets are being focused. Speaking about the garbage dumping issue of the town, Pariyar said that the under construction dumping zone at Dalman Gaon is just a waste of the money by the Municipality. The Dumping zone was never approved and it is not at all appropriate as it poses a serious threat especially during the monsoons. 

 Also the village people are against the dumping of garbage in that area. Setting up of a factory for proper treatment of wastes need at least two years, he notified. Lastly, Pariyar also stressed on 10 years delay of the construction of the water pumping project from Raley to Puchey Dara which have resulted in water crises at Kalimpong and also asked for the new techniques for the management of the solid waste. “I also want some suggestions from the public”, he concluded.