GMDA demands action against use of drinking water for construction

Sumedha Sharma

Gurugram, May 16

With several residential areas in Gurugram facing water supply crisis, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) shot off a letter to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to curtail the illegal use of potable water for construction purposes. Highlighting the alleged rampant misuse of drinking water in the MCG’s jurisdiction, the GMDAs asked nine executive engineers of the MC to act and curb the menace.

It may be noted that as per the norms, only water from sewerage treatment plants can be used for construction and the use of potable water and groundwater for it is banned. However, the ban is violated across the city in construction projects. The MCG has been asked to issue challans and penalise the violators so as to strictly enforce the ban. According to the GMDA, its officials were flooded with complaints of erratic and poor water supply or pressure from areas like 12A, Gurgaon Village, Sector 21, 22, 23-23A, Dundahera village, Surya Vihar Colony, Sector 55, 56, 57, DLF Phase 1 and 2, in addition to old Gurugram. The authority was taken by surprise as it claimed that these areas had sufficient water supply and conducted a survey.

“We found in the survey that many construction projects were ongoing in these areas and drinking water is being used there. This was leading to localised shortage and other problems,” said Abhinav Verma, Executive Engineer, GMDA.

It may be noted that in addition to these areas, many other localities such as Sushant Lok, Malibu Town, etc, too are going through a water supply crises. The city’s reputation has suffered due to the protests over problems relating to supply water. Today, senior citizen residents of the DLF Colony protested on the roads over the lack of water supply there for two days. Two days ago, residents of a local village obstructed a road to protest against the absence of water supply.

The GMDA has water treatment plants at Basai and Chandu Budhera, with a total capacity of 570 million litres per day (MLD), and of this, a maximum of 600 MLD water can be supplied. The demand for water in the city is about 675 MLD. Due to the difference between demand and supply, the MC uses groundwater from 600 borewells to meet the demand.

Violators to be penalised

• Highlighting the alleged rampant misuse of drinking water in the MCG’s jurisdiction, the GMDAs asked nine executive engineers of the Municipal Corporation to act and curb the menace.
• As per the norms, water from the sewerage treatment plants can only be used for construction purposes and usage of potable water and groundwater is strictly banned.
• The ban is violated across the city in construction projects. The MCG has been asked to issue challans and penalise the violators so as to strictly enforce the ban.