PUDUCHERRY: A pilot project to sink three borewells on river beds in Puducherry will be taken up as part of the comprehensive drinking water project to be implemented with French funding of `538 crore. A review meeting was held in the Legislative Assembly with a French delegation under Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Tuesday.
The project was set to be completed by June 2022, after the Puducherry government signed the agreement in 2017 with the French Development Agency (AFD). While the AFD released a soft loan of `49 crore three years ago, the project has not taken off due to issues in the sinking of borewell to draw water. There were also objections raised by the people, fearing adverse effects.
However, after extensive research, the government decided to sink 40 borewells on the beds of Penniyar and Malatar rivers and Guduviyar tank. Meanwhile, objections are being raised to this as well.
With the five-year tenure of the AFD project to end shortly, the UT government sought an extension of the tenure by another two years to address the bottlenecks. But, the agency is insisting on the commencement of the project by utilising the funds released, sources said.
Keeping in mind Puducherry's urban water requirement of 65 million litres per day, the government has been desperately looking at the project to solve the drinking water problems, particularly in urban areas. Puducherry has been reeling from the brunt of severe water issues, following sea intrusion that rendered its borewells saline.
The depth of the groundwater, the quantum of water and its effects will be studied and thereafter, the people can be convinced to implement the project in full, said PWD officials.
Agriculture Minister C Jayakumar, French Consul General in Puducherry Lise Talbot-Barré, Pierre Schryve, Task Team Leader, Water and Sanitation Division, Paris, AFD Director Bruno Bosle, Deputy Director AFD India Clémence Vilblache, Director, Water, Sanitation and Environment Project, AFD India Ankit Tulsian, Puducherry PWD Secretary Dr T Arun, Chief Engineer V Sathiyamurthy were present.