Delay in army nod clogs Balasun flow - Permission yet to come to lay pipes at military camp

VIVEK CHHETRI

Pipes for the Balasun project in the College Valley tea garden. Picture by Suman Tamang Darjeeling, May 16: The Balasun drinking water project, which has missed at least four deadlines for its commissioning, will be delayed further as the army is yet to give permission to lay pipes through its camp in Darjeeling. The project was envisaged to end the shortage of drinking water in Darjeeling. The hill town requires about 15-18 lakh gallons of water everyday and the municipality is in a position to supply only 7-8 lakh gallons daily at the moment. Once the project is completed, 2 million gallons of water will be pumped to Darjeeling from the Balasun river. A forum of elderly people under the banner of the Concerned Citizens’ Association expressed concern over the army’s delay in granting permission to lay pipelines through its camp at Kattapahar and Jalapahar. “The project is a long cherished dream of the people of Darjeeling as it is expected to solve the water shortage in town. Even though we were happy to note that 80 per cent of the work has been completed, we were told that permission to lay pipes in the army area in Darjeeling hasn’t been granted yet,” said J.B. Edwards, the secretary of the association. The project was awarded to a Hyderabad-based construction company and the work began in July 2007. The firm said the project would be completed in 24 months. But the deadline was revised to April 2010, December 2010 and again to February 2011. A response to an RTI application revealed that the commissioning of the project was being delayed as permission had come late from the forest department and railways to carry out various works related to the scheme. Political unrest and frequent calls for strike also hit the progress of the project. Under the project, water is to be pumped from the Balasun to the North and South Lakes at Senchel, 12km from here. From Senchel, pipes have to be laid to carry water to the St Paul’s and Rockville reservoirs in town. Two parallel pipes are supposed to pass through the army land for over 6km. Amar Singh Rai, the chairman of the Darjeeling municipality, said MP Jaswant Singh had recently met defence ministry officials in New Delhi to push for permission. “The MP has asked for relevant documents and I will send him the papers as soon as I get them from the PHE officials,” said Rai. Sources in the army said it couldn’t issue no-objection certificates to such proposals and permission had to be given by the ministry of defence.(TT)