News: Gurugram: Pipes finally reach homes, yet water won’t flow-14-06-2022
URUGRAM: A few years too late, but work on the master pipeline to supply water to sectors in New Gurugram is almost complete.
Still, it’s a long way from home for most residents of sectors 58 to 115.
According to officials, just 45 societies of the sectors that are lined along the Dwarka Expressway and the Southern Peripheral Road have taken individual water connections despite the GMDA having installed 93km of the 119km master pipeline.
For residents of sectors 72 to 80, there isn’t even the possibility of getting direct water supply.
These sectors are located at a relatively higher ground as compared to the Chandu Budhera Water Treatment Plant, officials aware of the matter said, adding that this geographical elevation does not allow water to flow to these sectors.
The civic authority is now constructing a Rs 64 crore-boosting station with a separate water tank in Sector 72A to address this problem. But until that is complete — likely to take at least three more months — residents are dependent on water tankers or groundwater supply.
“We have applied for a water connection but pipeline work has not been completed till now. The water supplied from tankers has very high TDS value and it isn’t safe for us to consume,” said Ravi Kant, general secretary of the Winter Hill RWA. The apartment complex in Sector 77 has 400 families living there.
GMDA officials said the boosting station will help resolve this problem. “Once ready, boosting station sector 72A will increase the water supply in sectors 72-80,” said GMDA chief engineer Rajesh Bansal.
The residents aren’t so sure.
Laying down basic infrastructure for water supply is already late to New Gurugram by a few years. The state government started giving out licences to develop societies from 2008 but work on the master pipeline began only in 2013.
It was expected to be completed by 2017, but around 26km of the master pipeline, which originates from the Chandu Budhera plant is still pending due to unavailability of land in sectors like 72A.
GMDA CEO Sudhir Rajpal said on Monday the authority is “working to resolve the land issue to ensure timely completion”.
When asked why only 45 societies of the hundreds in New Gurugram had managed to get individual connections, other GMDA officials pointed to the builders.
“It is the responsibility of the developer to take water to their respective societies through the arterial supply lines,” said chief engineer Bansal.
He added: “The process to apply is also online. We only issue connections to those who have completed the process.”
A Sector 81 residential society that is home to 500 families is one such example, according to the residents.
Despite availability of GMDA’s water supply in the sector, the society — which applied for a connection in July 2021 — is yet to get it because of an internal tussle between the RWA and the builder, the residents have alleged.
“There are 500 families in the society and there is no access to clean drinking water. They are dependent on tankers for their water needs. We have requested district officials to instruct the developer to pay for the connection charge,” said Amit Shekhar, vice-president of the society’s RWA.
Officials said another challenge that has affected regular supply of water in the area is damage to the pipeline, sometimes deliberately by those running water tanker services. “We’ve found some pipelines punctured with the help of JCB machines also. It can take days to detect and fix such damage,” said an official aware of the matter.
Residents urged that action must be taken to facilitate water supply. “We have requested the authorities multiple times to take action... There are dozens of societies that have to rely on either groundwater or water tankers,” said Praveen Malik, member of the United Association of Gurugram .
