Water plant to come up in Haldia

10 February 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 10 FEB: Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Haldia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Haldia Development Authority (HDA) for laying 12-MGD water supply pipeline at a cost of Rs 56.39 crore.
The project will be implemented by the HDA within 21 months. The IOCL will finance the project while the operation and maintenance of the 14.5-km pipeline will be done by the HDA. 
The agreement was signed at a recent programme held at the office of HDA.  HDA chairman and MP Subhendu Adhikari said: “The project is beneficial to both the HDA and the IOCL. The primary water supply grid of Haldia shall be relieved of IOCL water requirement. This surplus water (about 5 MGD) from primary grid can be given to other industries and the residents." “The HDA is all set to implement phase-II and phase-III of the water supply distribution network projects in order to improve the water supply in the town. The pipelines will be laid from Chaitanyapur to Brajlalchak and then from Brajlalchak to Hatiberia. These projects are expected to be completed within two years,” said Mr Adhikari.
Mr Shubhankar Ganguli, executive director of IOCL-Haldia Refinery, said: “The project envisages a water reservoir and a pump house at Chaitanyapur and a 900-mm pipe line from the pump house to IOCL water reservoir." Meanwhile, the project has been taken up at a time when potable water has been found unfit for drinking in the industrial town. The indiscriminate pumping of water has taken a toll on the groundwater level in both the Haldia municipality area and Haldia industrial belt.
With advent of summer, the quality of water has deteriorated to an alarming level over vast areas of Haldia. The Central Ground Water Board officials have said that “the excessive consumption of groundwater in the industrial area of Haldia has led to an imbalance in the table. More water is being withdrawn than is being replaced. As a result, the water table here has gone down by around 5-7 metre during the past three decades of industrialisation”.
A recent study has revealed that the water supplied by the public health engineering department (PHE) is either extremely saline or contaminated with fluoride. High salt intake can lead to high blood pressure and the swelling of body parts and has been linked to mental illness.