The Hindu Business Line : Vizag civic body urges Govt to hand over water supply scheme

THE Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (VMC) has urged the State Government to hand over the operation and maintenance of the Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Scheme to it and the council resolution has been submitted to the Government for the purpose.

In an interview on Friday, Ms Rajana Ramani, Mayor, said that she had met the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, on Thursday in Hyderabad and submitted the council resolution to him. "The Chief Minister has responded favourably and we are hopeful of a positive outcome."

She added that the VMC had contributed Rs 60 crore to the Rs 350-crore project for diversion of 5 TMC ft of Godavari waters from a village near Rajahmundry to the Yeleru canal through a pipeline and from then on to the Kaniti balancing reservoir. (The Visakhapatnam steel plant contributed Rs 100 crore and the rest was shared by other industrial users.)

Roughly half of the water would be used by the Visakhapatnam steel plant, the NTPC Simhadri power plant and other industrial users, while the rest would be used by the VMC for domestic water supply.

Ms Rajana Ramani said that in addition to the Rs 60 crore for the main project, the corporation had allocated Rs 100 crore for the filtration plant and other works for receiving the water and supplying it to citizens.

"The works on the filtration plant at Narava and pipelines are in full swing and they are expected to be completed by January. We will then be able to take the water."

On the controversy raging over the role of L&T in the project, she said that the previous TDP Government had decided to hand over the execution of the project to L&T on a long-term basis.

"But in view of the controversy, the Congress Government has decided to review the whole scheme. A Cabinet sub-committee has been constituted recently for the purpose. It is for the committee and the Government to take a decision. But we have made it known to them that we (the VMC) are capable of managing and operating the scheme."

The Cabinet sub-committee met in Hyderabad on Thursday and it is learnt that it also discussed increasing the stake of the Government in the project.

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