UP approves 185 crore to bring Ganga water to Khoda homes

Ghaziabad: In two years, Khoda homes will have Ganga water supply. UP govt has sanctioned Rs 185 crore project to supply 50 MLD of river water to the colony.Home to one of the country’s largest migrant colonies, 6 lakh residents in Khoda have been relying on groundwater that has been fast depleting. Locals have held numerous protests demanding Ganga water supply in the past few months.Unmesh Shukla, an official from UP Jal Nigam, said a 9km pipeline will be laid from Chhajarsi to Khoda under the project.“A pipeline is already supplying treated Ganga water from the Sidharth Vihar water treatment plant to Noida. About 50 MLD of Ganga water will be diverted through the pipeline into four reservoirs in Khoda, which includes one existing overhead tank and three underground water reservoirs. From these reservoirs, potable water will be supplied through the existing water pipeline to households,” Shukla added.It will take two years to complete the project. The expenditure committee is expected to approve the budget after the model code of conduct is lifted following the Lok Sabha election, Shukla said.In Nov last year, residents staged a massive protest demanding Ganga water supply to the area. Subsequently, 70 water tankers of 5,000 litres and 3,000 litres capacities supplied Ganga water to the area from the Sidharth Vihar plant.“The tanker service has, to some extent, addressed the potable water problem to the colony, but this is an ad hoc arrangement. We have to stand in a queue for hours and wait for the tankers, which sometimes leads to fracas. Also, the tanker service is unable to meet the total water demands of the area,” Deepak Joshi, a resident, said.Earlier, the UP Jal Nigam planned to directly connect Khoda to the Sidharth treatment plant but had to abandon the project as it was not viable. We also published the following articles recently