Public awareness meeting discusses water supply project in Guwahati

18 October, 2012

With the rapid urbanization, Guwahati city is also facing some drinking water problems and there are various issues as to how exactly water will be fairly distributed among the residents. But initiatives are being taken by the government to solve the issues.

A PUBLIC consultation meeting was organized by Guwahati Water Supply Project, on October 16 at Narakasur L.P School in Narakasur area of Guwahati. The purpose of the meeting, attended by 40 residents, was to build public support for pipeline laying work underway in the city.

A few residents complained about the disturbance and slow restoration of the by lanes. The contractors and the consultants explained the standard construction procedure and their obligation to refill the road within the same day. The consultants along with the Project Implementation Unit in this public consultation meeting, assured the residents of minimum inconvenience to be caused to them while the pipe laying works will be carried out and thus they were requested for their support and cooperation.

In the meeting, the residents of the area were informed about the salient features of the project i.e. 24x7 supply of potable water to 100% households of Guwahati city with adequate pressure by 2016. Since at present the water supply coverage to Guwahati city is less than 30%, and so in order to achieve 100% coverage, GMDA is implementing three projects funded by JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission), JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and ADB (Asian Development Bank) and on completion, the operation of these projects will be brought under a single Agency Guwahati Jal Board.

The meeting which went on for about one hour proved to be productive as the inputs given by the residents will help the project authorities to plan its implementation works with minimum inconvenience to the local residents. Towards the end of the meeting a customer pre-registration exercise was carried out, to record the existing water supply and waste water treatment situation in the locality. It was also informed that the project will continue to organize similar type of meetings in different parts of the city to solicit public co-operation.