IMC@snail’s pace: Indore Municipal Corporation takes 15 years to change 2 valves

INDORE: It took 10 years for the Holkars to dig a 600-acre lake, and over a century later, with all its fancy gadgets and bumper budgets,

Indore Municipal Corporation

took an agonising 15 years to change just two valves.

The historic day was Wednesday. The new valves, costing a princely Rs 1.5 lakh each, were in place and the water supply to the city shot up by 9 million litre a day — enough for 500 homes. It only brings to focus just how much the city was deprived because of a mere valve.

To put it in perspective, a kid who entered school when the valve went kaput, would be on the verge of landing a job now when it has finally been repaired.

While

IMC

officials boasted about the “achievement”, they could not explain why it took them so long to fix the problem. “While the problem was there, no one paid much attention so far,” was the best explanation

Balram Verma

, head of water works department, could come up with. Fifteen budgets worth thousands of crores have been passed in the meanwhile and it is surprising that IMC couldn’t find Rs 3 lakh to replace the valve. Not surprisingly, IMC officials were extremely cagey about revealing the cost of the valves.

“Changing a valve is not a complex process. It can affect water supply for a few days in some cases but certainly not 15 years,” a civic worker said.

Civic body officials said that with the valves changed, water supply from the lake will increase three times. Earlier, water from the lake filled up one of the 27 massive tanks in the city; now it will fill up three. “The damaged valves have been replaced. This will increase the efficiency of the plant and reduce wastage of water. We will test the quality of water and will be able to begin supply in a day or two,” said Verma.

When the valves were not working, the water of Bilawali tank had to be transferred to

Chota Bilawali

and then pumped into the treatment plant. “Now we can directly pump the water into the treatment plant,” Verma added. Also,

Chota Bilawali tank

, which is dry, can now be deepened. As the water was constantly transferred from Bilawali to Chota Bilawali, it had not been possible to deepen it.