Water supply rise hope for Behala, Tolly with KMC planning water pipeline
Times of India | 1 April 2025
123 Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to lay a dedicated water main pipe that will connect the Garden Reach water treatment plant to Parnasree in Behala to solve the water crisis that affects the Behala-Tollygunge belt during the peak of summer. The 1,000 mm diameter pipeline will help augment supply to these localities.
According to a KMC official, potable water from the Garden Reach treatment plant is currently transmitted through a 1,200 mm diameter pipeline that is inadequate to meet the requirements of the booster pumping stations (BPS) that are planned in the Behala-Tollygunge area.
According to a KMC water supply department official, filtered water from the Garden Reach water treatment plant will be transmitted to the Behala BPS and from there to several other booster pumping stations in the Behala-Tollygunge belt: Sirity BPS (Behala), Prafulla Park BPS (Tollygunge), Shakuntala Park BPS (Behala), Daspara BPS (Behala), and Senpally BPS (Behala).
Together, these booster pumping stations will cater to the water supply needs of around eight lakh people once the proposed 1,000 mm pipeline is laid and made functional, said a civic official. The KMC authority has sanctioned Rs 7.5 crore for laying the new pipeline. According to a KMC water supply department official, after observing certain tender formalities, the work of laying the pipeline will begin by the middle of this year, and the residents in the Behala and Tollygunge neighbourhoods will get the benefit before the next summer.
Mayor Firhad Hakim frequently receives calls from residents of Behala and Tollygunge during the interactive session ‘Talk to Mayor' with complaints about water scarcity during summer. According to a KMC water supply department official, the civic body has taken up major water supply projects for the augmentation of potable water in added areas, particularly in the Behala and Tollygunge-Jadavpur belt, where residents in some areas still depend on groundwater and face scarcity every summer when demand soars.
According to a KMC water supply department official, though the capacity of the Garden Reach water treatment plant was augmented, if the civic body wants to take advantage of such an augmentation and wants to reach the benefits to the residents in ‘dry zones', then laying the 1,000 mm pipe is the only alternative.
"We have constructed more than half a dozen capsule booster pumping stations, and a dozen such pumping stations are under construction. We need to lay the new pipeline as fast as we can so that when these capsule booster pumping stations are made operational, they get adequate water from the Garden Reach water treatment plant," said the civic official.
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