TURA: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for the New Feeder Mains under Tura Phase I and II Water Supply Scheme at Water Treatment Plant near Bishop’s House in Tura.
Adviser to the Chief Minister and North Tura MLA Thomas A Sangma, Government Chief Whip, Marcuise N Marak, West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner, Ram Singh, Superintendent of Police, Dr M G R Kumar, Officials of the District including those of the PHE were among others who attended the function.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister informed that the scheme is an initiative and funded by the Ministry of Development of North East Region (DONER), India under North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS). Referring to the water scarcity problem faced by the people during lean season, he said that the project when completed is expected to address the water crisis of the people of Tura town to a large extend. He also mentioned that the paper work and DPR for the said project took about a year and finally it has been sanctioned with an amount of 35 Crores giving one year’s time to complete the project.
The Chief Minister directed the Deputy Commissioner, Chief Engineer and the officials of the concerned department to monitor the project regularly so as to ensure that the implementation of the said project complete within the stipulated time frame and added that he would also review the project personally from time to time.
Besides, he informed that they have come up with few short term measures to cope with the water crisis in the region till the project is complete, and that money has also been sanctioned to repair water pumps and for acquiring more water tankers to supply water in the town areas especially during the dry season.
The CM also expressed his gratitude to the Nokma and the people of Dura Kalakgre and adjoining areas for being very supportive towards the project and for allowing to tap the water source from the desired location. In order to show their gratefulness and fulfill the commitment made to the people, the Chief Minister directed the officials of the PWD to construct roads for them, the PHE department to construct few water tanks with pipeline connection for the people in the village and the Health and Medical department for setting up full pledged Public Health Centre as requested by the people of Dura Kalagre village.
Chief Engineer, PHE Shillong, S K Blah while delivering the keynote address informed that the source of the project is the Ganol River and mentioned about the work components of the project comprising of laying of water feeder main pipelines, replacement of old CI pipes, feeder mains, pipes with new DI pipes, etc. Moreover, he said that that the project when completed would provide about 23 million litres of water per day throughout the year against the present demand of 20 million litres per day.
It may be mentioned that the project is expected to provide water to about 36060 households with the estimated population of 1, 80, 300 people at the supply rate of 135 lpcd.