MP industry reeling under water crisis

Indore, May 14 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh's Pithampur Industrial Area (PIA) is struck with a water crisis and the Pithampur Industrial Association has expressed outrage over curtailing of water supply.

The body's Chairman Gautam Kothari has urged that the scheme for laying a pipeline from the Sanjay reservoir to the apparel park, be cancelled and fresh water sources be made available to the park.

''The Madhya Pradesh Industrial Centres Development Corporation, which is the regulatory institution, is proving incompetent in fulfilling the increasing requirements due to its inactivity and limited resources,'' he said today.

The association alleged that, over the past 15 years, no attempt was made to enhance water supply to the area and traditional sources were proving incapable. ''The PIA is dependent on costly tankers that are useless from the industrial point of view,'' Mr Kothari added.

Sector 3 and Kheda Area is supplied by the Karam reservoir and is suffering scheduled cuts of 30 per cent and undeclared cuts of 50 to 70 per cent.

Mr Kothari pressed on the state government to cancel the project for supplying water to the Special Economic Zone's apparel park from the Sanjay reservoir, which supplies sectors 1 and 2.

''The project will lead to breakdown of the supply system to sectors 1 and 2 and the park will also not receive adequate water.

Six years back, a Rs 40-lakh pipeline was laid for supplying water to Sector 1 from Karam, in Sector 3, as Sanjay did not have any water. However, not a drop was transported by the pipeline,'' he alleged.

Mr Kothari pointed out that speedy development in the PIA led to a rapidly increasing need for basic facilities.

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