MIDC, CIDCO asked to supply water for scarcity-hit areas

MIDC, CIDCO asked to supply water for scarcity-hit areas
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, MAY 11: In a major policy decision, the Congress-led Democratic Front Government has asked the state-run Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) as well as the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) to provide water for urban as well as rural population in the scarcity-hit areas.

``We have asked the MIDC and CIDCO to drastically cut water supplied to the industrial areas, instead divert it for urban and rural population,'' Rural Development Minister R R Patil said.

R R Patil had convened a high-level meeting of all district collectors to take stock of the drinking water situation. It was informed that more than 771 villages and 1,168 hamlets were facing acute drinking water shortage.

``We were supplying drinking water to these villagers by tankers. Now we have instructed the district collectors to deploy more number of tankers to tackle the situation. An additional Rs 34 crore have been sanctioned for the purpose,'' R R Patil said.

During the meeting, the officials brought to the notice of the cabinet member the deteriorating situation in the entire Konkan belt, where the rivers supplying water for the urban areas, have been polluted owing to release of effluents from the industrial houses.

``I have taken a serious note of the largescale irregularities. At a juncture when there is no water for drinking, the industrial houses were releasing effluents into the river. Besides initiating proceedings under the guidelines prescribed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, we will not hesitate to take criminal action against the erring industries,'' R R Patil said.

Patil said he has asked the department to supply drinking water to the affected areas, particularly in the Konkan region by tankers. ``We will have to deploy large number of tankers for the Raigad district, since it was found that water supplied to the entire township was polluted,'' Patil said.