Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, March 21: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) proposal to install potable water ATMs in slums is yet to take off as the plan appears to be caught in bureaucratic wrangles.
The civic body had decided to install 40 potable water dispensers or ATMs across the city in the first phase but the detailed project report is yet to be prepared even as seven months have elapsed. A few weeks back, the DPR was sent to housing and urban development department for its approval. Reliable sources said the poor in the city are not going to get the benefit of the affordable water supply plan as the proposal is unlikely to be materialised within next few months.
The issue has once again highlighted the struggle of the civic body in materialising many key proposals aimed at strengthening civic services in the city. According to the proposal, the public health engineering organisation (PHEO) would provide ground water to BMC, which would treat the water and sell it to the poor in the capital at a very nominal price. A litre of purified water is likely to be sold at 30-40 paise and a person can get a maximum of 20 litres of water per day. The project envisages setting up of four water purification plants linked with 40 ATMs mainly in the slum clusters where the have-nots are not getting potable water due to poor water supply connectivity or other reasons.
For this, BMC would spend `6.5 crore while a private firm would be roped in for maintenance purpose.
BMC city engineer BK Parida told Orissa POST the water would be purified in three stages— micro-filtration, reverse osmosis and ultra violet tests to ensure the best quality water is being supplied to people.
“It is aimed at providing potable water to poor people because of which the ATMs would be set up first in the slums while public places can be zeroed in on in the next phases,” he said, adding people can get water by using smart cards which would be distributed by the firm engaged by BMC.
Parida further said each ATM would be designed to dispense 2,000 litres of treated water per day to 1,000 people.
