Minister for Ports Kadannappally Ramachandran will open the first water treatment plant under Kozhikode Municipal Corporation’s Kudumbasree on June 2.
The plant, which is set up on the old corporation building premises near Kozhikode Beach, was completed at a cost of ₹40 lakh within two months since the foundation was laid. Kudumbasree member secretary and project officer M.V. Ramsy Ismail said that the plant would be on trial run from May 27.
The project, which envisages to provide quality drinking water at affordable rates in the city, is being implemented with the help of Delhi-based Dharana Infrastructure Private Limited. Water pumped from safe sources will be chlorinated scientifically after which it will go through phases like dual media, iron remover, and reverse osmosis before being collected in stainless steel containers. The water will be supplied in 20 litre cans at the cost of ₹20 per can when it costs around ₹60 in the market at present.
Booking begins
The cans will be supplied to households and apartments in the first phase while offices and merchant outlets will be included later. Booking for the cans is in progress at the Corporation office.
While work on the second plant under the project is in progress at Elathur Industrial Estate and is expected to be completed in 40 days, Kudumbasree was forced to drop its plan for a plant near Francis Road due to protests from the public. Residents Associations in the area had come up against the proposal to set up the plant on the TB Hospital premises on Francis Road on grounds that the region was facing water scarcity and since the water treatment plant would consume a large quantity of water, it should be set up somewhere else.
The plant will be run by a team of five Kudumbasree members, who themselves have raised the fund for the plant, while the Corporation has provided a subsidy of ₹9 lakh.
