Mega plan fights for identity

Following a series of objections to the original report prepared by the Kirloskar consultants, a redraft of the entire project had been suggested.

The expert committee of additional city engineer water supply V G Dhadphale and officer on special duty H D Rao had scrutinised the report presented by the Kirloskar consultants and re-drafted it. While the original report had decided the 250-litre per capita water consumption, the revised version now suggests the per capita water consumption at 225-litre which would help bring down the project cost. This again is more than the neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad where the per capita water consumption is 180 litres.

The original report had suggested a new waterworks with a capacity of 186 MLD at Warje. Instead of this the revised scheme now proposes three water treatment plants 8211; one with a capacity of 125 MLD at Wadgaon Dhairy to meet the water needs of nearby villages including Khadakwasla and Warje. The others at Warje with 100 MLD and increase in the capacity at Holkar bridge by 40 MLD, would therefore bring the total availability of water to 265 million litres, Agarwal said.

The revised scheme also envisages a reduction in the electricity expenditure due to scaling of the project cost. The scheme has also emphasised utilising the present sewerage treatment plant at Naidu Sewerage treatment centre to its full capacity. The revised scheme has proposed the construction of a bund in the river bed at Mundhwa. The contingency expenses has been brought down from 10 to 5 per cent while the expenditure on personnel has been reduced by two per cent. Suggestions made by the original report like a master balancing tank, sump well at Nanded, installing additional pumping machinery at the Parvati water works, Padmavati pumping station have been done away with in the first phase of the project, Agarwal said.