Water contingency plan for city activated early amid March heat

Jaipur: With Jaipur recording unusually high temperatures in March, public health engineering department (PHED) has activated its water supply contingency plan earlier than usual. Supply wing officials began implementing the plan across Jaipur divisions from Wednesday based on local demand, while the project wing simultaneously increased water supply from Bisalpur Dam."To cope with the demand, we have started partial implementation of the contingency plan from Wednesday itself. As the project wing increased the Bisalpur supply, we have also increased the supply to households as per the demands," stated a PHED engineer.Officials said they have kept tankers ready, especially for the last mile areas of the city. At present, around 20 tankers have been allotted to all divisions, and the number may increase as demand increases. "A slight increase in supply can meet the present demand. But the way the temperature is increasing, we may have to increase the supply significantly from next week and may initiate full-fledged tanker supply by the end of the month. Generally, we consider April to June as the peak season," an official stated.This year, the state govt sanctioned Rs 50 lakh per district for implementation of the contingency plan.Officials stated junior engineers and assistant engineers would soon initiate a drive against usage of booster pumps and increased ferrules at households to keep a check on water theft. Engineers have already initiated drives against illegal connections across the city."The only solace is that this time we have sufficient water at Bisalpur Dam to cater to Jaipur. We would increase the Bisalpur supply to Jaipur gradually as and when the demand increases," another official of PHED stated.