Officials of the Adilabad Circle of the Rural Water Supply Department are confident of supply of water to every household by March 31, even as the numbers speak otherwise.
The officials are confident that at the current pace of execution of Mission Bhagiratha work they would reach the target within the deadline. While this may be correct insofar as laying of pipeline is concerned, there is scope for doubt as a significant number of overhead storage reservoirs (OHSR) remain incomplete.
For example, of the 946 OHSRs to be constructed in Adilabad district only 367 are complete and over 500 are at various stages of completion. In Nirmal district, which forms part of Adilabad Circle, 287 OHSRs have been constructed out of the 442.
Optimistic officials
Reeling out statistics, an optimistic in-charge Superintending Engineer D. Venkateshwarlu said notwithstanding the fast approaching deadline, the Department is going to achieve the target. “While bulk supply of water has reached all the 1,175 habitations in Adilabad district and 671 in Nirmal, as many as 1.2 lakh households of the targetted 1.5 lakh households in the former and 1.4 lakh of the 1.49 lakh in the latter have been given connections,” he revealed.
In Adilabad district, 725 habitations are to get water from Sriram Sagar Project (SRSP) and the remaining 450 from Kumram Bheem project in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district. In Nirmal, 457 habitations would be supplied SRSP water while the remaining 214 will get water from Kadem project in the same district.
There were some hiccups noticed from time to time as the work on pipelines, both main and intra village, was progressing. The department has successfully repaired several leakages, mostly in the valves.
‘Leakages plugged’
“Leakages are manageable now and almost all were plugged within 24 hours with the help of manpower and machinery,” the SE recalled. “We are now concentrating on fixing the taps in concrete bed in individual households so as to make it a permanent fixture,” he added.
The Mission Bhagiratha work in Adilabad Circle has been taken up at a cost of ₹ 2,250 crore. Of this ₹ 450 crore is being spent for laying intra village pipeline and ₹ 1,800 for the mainline and other related work.
