Citizens’ Forum Pens Momo Over SE Guwahati Project DelayGuwahati: Residents in south-eastern Guwahati are struggling to secure water as the city’s delayed South-East Guwahati Water Supply Project remains incomplete.Residents said a borewell they depended on ran dry after construction of a new building in the area. With no reliable alternative, several households now depend on private water tankers.“With no reliable alternative, we are now forced to depend on private water tankers to meet our daily requirements. This has added a financial burden on households. We are spending between Rs 300 and Rs 700 to procure water. For many families, the recurring expense is becoming increasingly difficult to manage, raising concerns over the lack of a sustainable water supply system in the neighbourhood,” said Rupak Medhi, a resident of Rukminigaon.Against this backdrop, members of the Citizens’ Forum for Expedited Implementation of the South-East Guwahati Water Supply Project submitted a memorandum to the housing and urban affairs minister, seeking urgent intervention and faster execution of the long-pending project.The project, initially scheduled to begin in 2013, has faced repeated delays. Forum chief convener Nalini Deka said the minister said review meetings would be held every three months to assess progress. The managing director of the Guwahati Jal Board was instructed to hold monthly monitoring meetings, she added.According to Deka, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the executing agency, has been directed to accelerate the work and complete the project by March 2029.The project has received financial assistance from the New Development Bank, with the state govt approving a Rs 1,367-crore loan.Only three of the six proposed reservoirs have been completed so far: Gopal Nagar in Noonmati, Uttar Jyotinagar in Bamunimaidam and Kenduguri in Narengi, with capacities of 17 MLD, 3.2 MLD and 3.6 MLD, respectively.Work is pending on the remaining reservoirs, the Brahmaputra intake facility at Kharghuli and the water treatment plant, whose capacity is proposed to rise from 98 MLD to 147 MLD. Pipelines for household connections are yet to be laid in several areas.
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