Arsenic-free water supply disrupted in five Malda blocks

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 19 MARCH: Supply of arsenic-free drinking water has been disrupted completely in five blocks in the district due to shortage in supply of surface water from the Ganga and Fulohar, since yesterday afternoon.

The officials of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department detected the problem around 4.10 pm yesterday when the ‘pond level’ of the Ganga at Rajnagar Ghaat, near Farakka Barrage Project, went down abnormally.

Hence, he PHE officials could not collect water from the Ganga to run their water treatment plant at Dariapur in Kaliachak III since last evening.

Similarly, PHE officials could run its treatment plant located at Mathurapur in Manikchak block since last evening when the water-flow of the Fulohar, connected to the Ganga, went down.

More than 10 lakh people have been affected in the two sectors.

The water reservoirs at Dariapur water treatment plant in southern sector got completely dried up since morning.

“We could not collect a single drop of water from the Ganga since yesterday evening. Nearly 5.53 lakh people were affected in southern sector. 22,995 families, from whom a net sum of Rs 16.98 lakh is earned by the PHE per year, have been affected”, said Mr D Banerjee, executive engineer PHE arsenic division.

"We need to get 35.6 million litre of water per day for the treatment plant", he said.

The PHE officials held a meeting with the district magistrate Mr Sridhar Ghosh midday today and informed the critical water situation.

Mr Ghosh contacted the general manager of the Farakka Barrage Project to increase the pond-level of the Ganga to sort out the problem.

The PHE officials reportedly were informed that due to an important ongoing work for the barrage the water level would be reduced by releasing water of the Ganga.

The PHE officials also reported the matter to the Kaliachak and Sujapur MLAs to sort out the problem soon.

The CPI-M MLA from Kaliachak has already informed the matter to the PHE minister Mr Goutam Deb and the chief minister Mr Buddhabdeb Bhattacharjee seeking their interventions to meet the crisis.

After receiving a call from the district magistrate, the general manager of the FBP, who is in Delhi today, asked the senior engineers of the FBP to look into the matter.

The FBP authorities, have however, ensured the PHE engineer, Mr D Banerjee that they would try to sort out the problem soon.  

The PHE officials also said that during this lean period, the water-flow of the Ganga is significantly lower compared to the past few years.

They apprehend that during a dry spell they may face similarly problem.  

On the other hand, arsenic free water treatment plant at Mathurapur in Manikchak, has been facing problem to collect sufficient water from the Fulohar, near the confluence point of the Ganga and the Fulohar since the past three days.

Water supply was disrupted since Tuesday in the northern sector of arsenic free water supply zone.