DJB gets budget hike of Rs 400 crore to improve sewerage

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday asked the DJB to lay sewer network in unauthorised colonies,which have been given clearances for regularisation. Dikshit,who presided over the board-cum-budget meeting of the DJB,asked the water utility to start the process of laying the sewer network in the unauthorised colonies as soon as possible.

The sewer network will be laid in those colonies which were given provisional regularisation certificates (PRCs) by the government in 2008,and were cleared for regularisation by agencies concerned. Officials said the laying of sewer is expected to be undertaken in around 1,000 colonies out of 1,239 colonies.

The Delhi government had issued the PRCs to over 1,239 unauthorised colonies,which have been home to around 40 lakh people,ahead of the Assembly polls in 2008. Following a high-level probe into issuance of PRCs to the colonies in the wake of allegations of corruption,however,the government cancelled PRCs of 43 unauthorised colonies.

The DJB has also made efforts to provide piped water supply in 1,005 unauthorised colonies. DJB officials said the water lines have been laid in 783 unauthorised colonies,while work in 45 unauthorised colonies is underway.

“The proposals to provide piped water supply in 32 unauthorised colonies is in the tendering process and in 145 unauthorised colonies,the proposals are in the estimate process stage,” the DJB said in a statement. With the commissioning of new water treatment plants at Dwarka and Okhla this year,DJB CEO Ramesh Negi said the city’s water production is expected to increase to 900 million gallons per day.