Kolkata: Ramgarh bore-well starts, but locals wary of water quality

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has finally commissioned the much-awaited bore-well at Ramgarh, an area located in the southern fringe. Though the sanction for the installation of big-diar tube-well was given by the KMC water supply department on war footing before Lok Sabha polls and the installation process was complete a couple of months ago, the commissioning of it was put on hold till last week.

A TOI report carried a story on the delay in commissioning of the bore-well, which had left the area dry in peak of summer. The bore-well with a capacity to supply ground water to 2,500 households in Ramgarh area was designed to mitigate acute water crisis in the neighbourhood.

According to a KMC water supply department official, the civic body’s engineers were taking time before commissioning of the tube-well as they had been engaged in testing of ground water before supplying it to the locals. “We had to exercise caution before commissioning of the bore-well keeping in mind spread of Hepatitis-A in large areas of Baghajatin , Vidyasagar Colony and Ramgarh,” said an official.

Ramgargh residents on Monday welcomed the civic body’s decision to start supplying water to the perched area. “We had been suffering from an acute water crisis for past several years. The shortage was such that we had to depend on KMC water tankers almost every day,” said Gautam Bose, a retired railways employee.

However, a section of beneficiaries on Monday expressed apprehension about the quality of water and said they were yet to use the ground water for the purpose of drinking. “We are scared about the quality of the ground water especially after the outbreak of jaundice in parts of Ramgarh and Vidyasagar colony. We have decided not to use the bore-well water as drinking water till we get a positive feedback about its quality,” said Ratan Sarkar, a local businessman.

Local RSP councillor Debasish Mukherjee who lobbied hard with the KMC top brass for commissioning the bore-well felt it was a timely decision on part of the civic body to start supply of tube-well water to the water-stressed area. “Better late than never. I feel the much awaited bore-well will cater to thousands in scarcity-hit Ramgarh area. But I am also scared about the quality of the water. At the same time, we can’t help till filtered water from Garden Reach water treatment plant is supplied to Ramgarh area replacing ground water,” Mukherjee said.