Ganga ‘flows’ to Nawada
“The project will facilitate supply of 135 litres of treated Ganga water every day for each person in Nawada. While the first phase of the project covering Rajgir and Gaya was successfully launched in 2022, the second phase to cover Nawada was launched on Friday,” a statement from the CMO said.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday inaugurated the Ganga water supply scheme (GWSS) for Nawada town after formally switching on the water treatment plant at Paura village in the district.
According to a statement by the Chief Minister Office (CMO) in Patna, “The project at Paura village in Kadirganj will meet the demand for drinking water in Nawada. Ganga water will also be provided to different institutions, hospitals, schools and hotels in the district. Kumar inaugurated the first segment of the GWSS in Gaya and Rajgir last year”.
“The project will facilitate supply of 135 litres of treated Ganga water every day for each person in Nawada. While the first phase of the project covering Rajgir and Gaya was successfully launched in 2022, the second phase to cover Nawada was launched on Friday,” the statement said.
The total length of the pipeline installed to supply Ganga water to the three towns of the state is 190.90km.
About 14,000 households in the district will be getting supply water from the river Ganga, stored in the reservoir near Motnaje village in Rajgir hills, as part of scheme that was approved by the government in December 2019.
Under the scheme, Nawada is the fourth town to get supply of water from the river after Rajgir, Gaya and Bodh Gaya.
On November 27 last year, the CM had opened Ganga water supply scheme in Rajgir after launching the water treatment plant in the locality.
The water is lifted from the river Ganga at Maranchi village near Hathidah and taken to Motnaje reservoir through 91-km-long pipe. About 20-km-long pipe was laid from Motnaje reservoir to water treatment plant at Paura village, from where water is supplied through taps in 17 wards of Nawada town.
About 75,000 households in 53 wards of Gaya, 6,000 households of 19 wards in Bodh Gaya and over 8,000 households of 19 wards in Rajgir have been getting treated Gangajal as drinking water since last year, which was operationalised in phase-1 of the project that cost around ₹4,100 crore.
People in Gaya and Bodh Gaya have been getting the supply from Tetar reservoir, which is filled up through pipes from main reservoir at Motnaje. Water is supplied through taps in Gaya and Bodh Gaya after its treatment at Manpur treatment plant, while Rajgir’s natives get potable water after its treatment at Motnaje plant.
Explaining the mechanism for water supply system, engineer-in-chief (irrigation), Rakesh Kumar, said water is stored in a master underground reservoir, having a capacity of 36 million litres, at Paura village under Quadirganj block of Nalanda district, from where it is taken to taps through pipes laid and maintained by Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (Buidco) facility.
A documentary based on Gangajal water supply scheme was screened at the event at Paura village.
Additional chief secretary of water resources department, Chaitanya Prasad, and senior officials of the department, along with those of Buidco, were present.
Water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha, who accompanied the CM during the programme, said the scheme was executed with the vision of taking surplus water from river Ganga to water-stressed cities in south Bihar and using it as drinking water under the larger mission of “Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali”.
The ambitious Gangajal water supply scheme was approved in a special cabinet meeting held in Gaya in December 2019.
Water from the river Ganga is transported from Hathidah to Rajgir, Gaya, Bodh Gaya and Nawada through 11 powerful pumps.
Ganga water will also be supplied for animals and plants in the Nature Safari and Zoo Safari at Rajgir.