Bhopal Municipal Corporation to takeover private borewells to meet water needs in Kolar, Hoshangabad Road

BHOPAL: The district administration has issued directives for takeover of private borewells in areas along Hoshangabad road and Kolar, which are facing acute water scarcity . The move comes in the wake of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s efforts to explore options for using all water resources to meet the demand in the scorching summer.

Nearly 21 lakh population of the state capital is dependent on water supply from the civic body. Of the about 72 MGD of water needed every day, about 5 MGD comes from borewells. Two major water sources of underground water along Hoshangabad road and Kolar would now be utilised to provide free drinking water to the nearby population, said BMC city engineer AK Pawar.

On Tuesday, BMC commissioner, B Vijay Datta, inspected the Ahmadpur water pumping facility. During the visit in wards 53 and 54, Datta inspected the progress of the under-construction water tank at Amrai. The commissioner also sought the progress report of construction of a park at Bagh Sewania.

Datta has suspended the area health officer of ward 53 and ordered a 10-day pay cut for an official of ward 54 after it was found that the wards were not confirming to proper sanitation and hygiene standards.

GPS tracking of water tankers shows wrong info

BMC's GPS tracking of water tankers have failed to provide users in public domain with accurate information. Telephone numbers -- provided by the private company handling the website -- are incorrect for nearly all the vehicles, said sources. The service is in open domain, connected through the BMC website for tracking of its entire fleet. The vehicle tracking system provides data movement and location data of 70 water tankers. Overall, 773 BMC vehicles are monitored under the system, which has brought into focus the diesel scam in the BMC. The tracking data had revealed that diesel was filled in the vehicles, but the mileage shown did not match the consumption. According to the BMC, it operates about 1,100 vehicles in all.