Balasun Water project to start soon

Darjeeling : A project conceived in 1995 to solve the problem of water scarcity in Darjeeling town has finally taken off, but the intervening 12 years have added Rs 17 crore to the costs.

Former DGHC councillor N.B. Pradhan today launched the Darjeeling Water Supply Pumping Scheme (earlier known as the Balason project) at Rungmook Cedar tea garden here, 24km from Darjeeling town.

When the blueprint of the project was first prepared, the estimated cost was Rs 33 crore, but work did not start because of dearth of funds. Now the expenses will be Rs 50 crore, of which Rs 10 crore has already been sanctioned by the Planning Commission.

The project, to be executed by Ramky Infrastructure Ltd of Hyderabad, aims to pump water from the Balason river to Tiger Hill, 12km away, where there are two lakes that supply potable water to Darjeeling. Ramky will also set up a water treatment plant midway, at Jorebungalow.

Construction manager Debashish Das said the project will be completed in two years.

Currently, the Darjeeling municipality can supply only 7-8 lakh gallons of water everyday, compared to the town’s daily requirement of 15-18 lakh gallons.

Source: The Telegraph