Maharashtra: Mayor seeks report on Kopri sewage project

Thane: Mayor Sharmila Pimpalolkar on Monday pulled up civic officials following reports of the sewage treatment project at Kopri not operating at full capacity and sought a detailed report on the corrective action within 15 days.Pimpalolkar visited the treatment plant along with municipal commissioner Saurabh Rao and senior officials on Tuesday and flagged multiple deficiencies in the project and expressed dissatisfaction over its functioning. The visit comes two days after a team led by BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar and MLC Niranjan Davkhare surveyed the project, finding it to be underperforming and also allegedly draining out sludge, threatening the safety of mangroves in the vicinity. "Officials admitted the system was not functioning as intended, following which the mayor instructed the administration to submit a detailed report," said an official present during the visit. The project is being implemented under a public-private partnership (PPP) model and designed to treat wastewater and produce reusable water. The contractor was responsible for operating the tertiary treatment plant and supply 10% of the treated water to the corporation and also share part of the revenue generated from sale of the remaining water volume in the open market.